How the Home Fragrance Category is Evolving Beyond Candles

Candles remain the cornerstone of home fragrance, but shoppers now seek scent experiences in every space—from closets to cars. Retailers who expand into flameless, portable, and seasonal formats can capture new occasions, grow basket size, and drive total category growth without cannibalizing candle sales. Learn how to meet evolving consumer expectations and become the destination for complete home fragrance solutions.

October 13, 2025

How the Home Fragrance Category is Evolving Beyond Candles

Candles Still Rule—But They're Not the Whole Story

Walk through any successful home fragrance aisle and you'll see it: candles are the anchor. They're the destination SKU that drives traffic, builds baskets, and generates consistent revenue. And that's not changing.

But here's what is changing: consumer expectations around how they experience fragrance throughout their entire home—and life (Fortune Business Insights). The shoppers buying your best-selling candles? They're also looking for ways to bring that same scent experience into spaces where candles just don't work. And if you're not offering those options, they're finding them somewhere else.

For retail buyers navigating an increasingly competitive category, the opportunity isn't about replacing candles. It's about understanding the white space around them.

The Layered Fragrance Shopper

According to Personal Care Insights, over half of air care consumers actively vary their household freshener products to diversify their fragrances. But it goes deeper than variety for variety's sake—shoppers are building layered fragrance experiences across different spaces and use cases.

They might purchase a premium candle for the living room centerpiece, then add:

Sachets for drawers and closets where open flames aren't practical
A car freshener for their daily commute
Travel-sized options for gym bags or suitcases
Plug-ins for continuous scent in high-traffic areas

This isn't fragmentation—it's expansion. The same customer who loves your signature vanilla candle wants that scent everywhere. Your job is simply to make it available in the formats that fit their lifestyle.

Where Candles Leave Gaps (And Why That's Your Opportunity)

Safety-Conscious Spaces

Parents, pet owners, and college students often seek fragrance options that don’t involve an open flame. Offering safe, flameless formats—such as sprays, plug-ins, and sachets—helps capture this audience. Safety claims and “free-from concerning substances” now rank among the top factors influencing purchase decisions in air care, according to Personal Care Insights.

Price Point Entry

Not every trip is a $25 candle trip. Sachets and smaller formats create accessible entry points that introduce shoppers to scent families they might later purchase in premium candle form. Think of it as a trial that drives trade-up.

Portability Needs

The air care market has seen significant growth in smaller formats designed for tight spaces—cars, closets, luggage. According to Forbes, the market for car fragrances is projected to surpass $3.2 billion by 2032. These aren't competing with your candle sets; they're capturing entirely incremental occasions.

Seasonal Fill-Ins

Summer naturally slows candle velocity. But fragrance demand doesn't disappear—it just shifts to formats better suited for outdoor living and travel season.

Your Practical Implementation Plan

Step 1: Protect Your Candle Performance

Start by acknowledging what's working. Identify your top-selling candle scents and velocities. These are your foundation—nothing we add should disrupt them.

Step 2: Identify Format Gaps

Ask: which customer needs aren't being met by candles alone? Where are shoppers likely going to competitors or simply not buying at all?

Step 3: Add Incremental, Not Replacement SKUs

Introduce alternative formats in your proven scent families first. If "Cinnamon Spice" candles fly off shelves in Q4, add room sprays, diffusers, sachets, and more in that same scent family. You're extending a winner, not experimenting with unknowns.

Step 4: Merchandise for Discovery

Place complementary formats near, not separate from, your candle sets. Endcaps, cross-merchandising, and bundled displays all encourage the "oh, I could use that too" add-on purchase.

The Real Transformation: Category Growth, Not Cannibalization

According to Precedence Research, the home fragrance market is projected to reach approximately $45 billion by 2034, growing at nearly 6% annually. Personal Care Insights reports this significantly outpaces general household care products. That growth isn't coming from candles alone.

Retailers who lean into format diversity aren't seeing their candle sales decline. They're seeing total category growth. Why? Because they're:

Capturing more occasions (car, closet, travel, gifting)
Serving more customer segments (safety-conscious, budget-flexible, on-the-go)
Building basket size through complementary purchasing
Increasing trip frequency as customers return for refills and seasonal rotations

The transformation isn't about becoming "less candle-focused." It's about becoming the destination for complete home fragrance solutions—where candles remain the hero, but the supporting cast drives meaningful incremental growth.

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