Aromatherapy uses natural plant extracts to improve the health and wellbeing of your body and mind, including your mood. Air fresheners (a close cousin of aromatherapy) tend to be less health-focused, but are designed to make your space smell great.
During the pandemic, many of us are cocooning--making our homes into welcoming, healthy sanctuaries--and increasingly using high tech gear to do it. In line with this trend, aromatherapy products are forecasted to increase in sales by 10% a year for the next seven years. I recently bought a bottle of lemon essential oil to brighten my home office (and my mood!).
The “next generation home fragrance” from Pura (pictured--original photo from their site) is all over the press--USA Today, Ellen, Vogue, & Real Simple. The Pura Smart Home Diffuser is just one example of home fragrance products, but caught my eye for a couple of reasons.
First, the Pura is on the high-end in terms of its tech capability. You plug it into an outlet and it diffuses the scent of your choice over time. You can use an app to schedule fragrance release to fit your needs and avoid wasting the diffuser oil.
Pura is also very forward-leaning in its business strategy. It offers a subscription model that sends scents regularly to your home. Subscription models for consumer goods ranging from clothes (think Stitch Fix) to meal prep (like Blue Apron) have been on the rise, and Pura builds on that model by offering high end fragrances in partnership with known brands like Caswell-Massey and Apotheke.
In addition, Pura is ahead of the curve in leveraging influencer marketing and social selling. Right on their site anyone can apply to get a 10% commission on sales. I haven’t done it, but I was kind of impressed by the approach and curious about how well it will work. I also give them points for providing kid and pet-safe products, which is a big consideration for me--the ASPCA points out that some scent diffusers can pose potential risks to pets.
Pura isn’t cheap--the initial price is $44 (not too bad for a diffuser), but you have to add on the cost of the scents, which come in small quantities costing as much as $18 each, which add up if you’re locked into a subscription.
Does scent make a difference to your happiness? Do you already use a home fragrance diffuser of some kind? What are your favorite fragrances?
