Lululemon dupes, Dyson Airwrap dupes, Van Cleef dupes—if a product is well-liked, there’s nearly undoubtedly a less expensive different. And customers are all in.
The attraction of dupes has skyrocketed in recent times, and at this time, they account for a good portion of the worldwide shopper market. It’s a US$1.7 trillion business.
Using this phenomenon is Greatest Fragrance Retailer, a homegrown enterprise in Singapore that recreates well-known perfumes and enhances them, claiming to make them stronger than the originals. Every 100ml scent retails for S$69, at a fraction of the value of their luxurious counterparts.
And it seems that the model has gained notable traction. Launched in 2022, Greatest Fragrance Retailer has already managed to increase to 2 shops in Singapore: one at Plaza Singapura and one other at Westgate, Jurong East.
We spoke with the model’s founder, 32-year-old Josh Frost, to be taught extra about his entrepreneurial journey and his fragrance enterprise—the way it operates, and what led to its fast development.
It wasn’t his first enterprise
Josh’s path to entrepreneurship wasn’t simple. Initially unable to pursue a grasp’s diploma as a result of monetary constraints and a reluctance to tackle pupil loans, he turned to educating, taking up a number of part-time tutoring roles to make ends meet.
When COVID-19 hit, he misplaced his educating jobs and took on varied roles, together with part-time work as a bartender, a facet gig he’d saved on and off for over a decade.
Finally, Josh moved into the edutech business, however quickly got here to grasp {that a} standard profession path wasn’t for him. At that time, having claimed to have saved up about S$110,000, he determined it was time to strike out on his personal.
Leveraging his bartending expertise, Josh ventured into the alcopop market in 2022 with Happies Homebar, producing alcoholic drinks blended with fruit juices and different flavourings, with comparatively low alcohol content material.
On the time, manufacturers like Arduous Seltzer had been taking off within the US, and I felt that was a great enterprise into understanding flavours [rather] than mixing your typical spirits and liqueurs.
Josh Frost
However the enterprise by no means took off. After investing round S$70,000 and making an attempt to handle manufacturing—from 800-litre mixing tanks to automated label rollers—all out of his mom’s HDB kitchen, Josh quickly realised the bounds of working from dwelling.
Rules additionally required him to maneuver to a manufacturing facility setting, however with out funds for a deposit, he was unable to launch the enterprise. But, Josh wasn’t prepared to surrender.
I used to be okay dropping cash; you can also make that again once more. However I might have by no means let myself dwell by means of giving up.
Josh Frost
As an alternative of returning to the alcohol business, he recognized one other promising enterprise: fragrances. It was an business that shared lots of the similar producers because the flavours enterprise, and due to the contacts he had constructed whereas attempting to arrange Happies Homebar, he already had a head begin.
Furthermore, Josh had additionally noticed a transparent hole out there at the moment. Perfumes had been both overpriced or, in the event that they had been low cost, they felt “dodgy.” There was no center floor, and that ache level would change into the place to begin for Greatest Fragrance Retailer.
Trial and error
To kickstart his enterprise, Josh dedicated a big funding: S$30,000 for the minimal order of uncooked substances, and one other S$15,000 into constructing the necessities, together with Greatest Fragrance Retailer’s web site, tools, and glassware.
Though he had already dabbled in aromatics as a passion, his early experiments with scent blends left a lot to be desired. “It was terrible,” he admitted.
Decided to enhance, he sought out suggestions wherever he might—becoming a member of boards, chatting with different perfumers, and steadily refining his craft by means of trial and error.
A great eight to 12 hours of his day had been spent experimenting with formulations, whereas the remaining went into studying all the things he might about perfumery. To maintain the enterprise afloat in its early days, he additionally juggled a part-time educating job to cowl his bills.
As orders started trickling in, Josh contracted entry to a Fuel Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GCMS) machine by means of one other perfumery. The GCMS permits him to precisely analyse perfume compositions, enabling Greatest Fragrance Retailer to refine its blends with far higher precision.
“With the ability to do it is a big keyman danger,” he mentioned, as one among these machines usually prices between US$30,000 and US$40,000.
“However [it is also] the main purpose why Greatest Fragrance Retailer can beat out different clone homes, as they’re normally outsourcing or the product proprietor isn’t a perfumer and in a position to modify [formulations] or perceive tips on how to troubleshoot.”
One other key differentiator of the model is its give attention to producing high-concentration perfumes, which supply longer-lasting put on, particularly well-suited for Singapore’s sizzling and humid local weather.
“Pores and skin within the recreation”
Inside six months of launching Greatest Fragrance Retailer, Josh had managed to promote over 3,000 fragrance bottles, and the momentum hasn’t slowed since, with the model providing an expansive catalogue of greater than 250 totally different scents at this time.
It additionally ventured into the retail area in 2024, establishing its very first outlet at Plaza Singapura, adopted by a second at Westgate.
Why go bodily? For Josh, it’s about bringing the perfumes on to the folks. “[It] additionally [helps us] attain folks that we couldn’t from promoting…. and [to show] we’ve obtained pores and skin within the recreation.”
The technique appears to be working to this point, with Greatest Fragrance Retailer presently on observe to surpass S$10 million in income this yr alone, in line with Josh.
However development apart, are promoting dupes even authorized, and the place precisely is the road drawn?
To remain on the proper facet of the legislation, Josh takes a cautious method. He avoids utilizing trademarked names, logos, bottle shapes, and packaging which may confuse customers or infringe on mental property.
“Keep away from that, don’t deceive the buyer, and then you definately’re okay,” he mentioned in a earlier interview.
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Trying forward, Josh stays targeted on long-term development over short-term revenue. Since Greatest Fragrance Retailer’s launch, he shared that over 90% of its earnings have been reinvested into product improvement and enlargement.
On the horizon, the model is getting ready to open one remaining outlet in Singapore. Regionally, it’s laying the muse for wider Southeast Asian development, with manufacturing facility bases nearly finalised throughout Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
In the long term, Josh envisions establishing Greatest Fragrance Retailer as APAC’s main fragrance home by 2030—a one-stop vacation spot for secure, long-lasting fragrances.
- Discover out extra about Greatest Fragrance Retailer right here.
- Learn different articles we’ve written on Singaporean startups right here.
Featured Picture Credit score: Wan Aidil by way of Google Evaluations/ Greatest Fragrance Retailer
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