A frantic run to the perfume counter on Christmas Eve is usually the action of a desperate man but it is such high spending impulsiveness at this time of the year that the perfume industry depends on.

Half of all perfume sales take place in December and hence the sales and marketing overdrive as seen in every women's magazine and in-store perfume hall.

However, despite the seasonal sales buoyancy, perfume sales are declining. In Britain, last year, sales values dropped by £108 million (€137 million) to £602 million. That 15 per cent decline increased to a significant 46 per cent for women's fragrances in the all important two-month run up to Christmas.

While values have gone down, volume has increased and its this mass-market availability that is causing problems for the traditional perfume houses which are fighting back by reintroducing exclusivity into a very crowded market.

Up to 30 years ago perfume was very much a luxury item, bought only in specialist perfumeries or high-end department stores. Its low-key marketing meant that scents were only for special occasion usage and were not popularly identifiable by name.

In 1973, Charlie changed all that. It was priced for mass market affordability and its scent was instantly recognisable. Charlie reinforced the idea that women could buy perfume for themselves and, thanks to widespread distribution, it could be bought from corner chemist shops as well as traditional perfume outlets.

Ten years later, Giorgio of Beverley Hills and Dior's Poison caused an even bigger shift in the market. The idea that women wanted to really smell what they were getting for their money was born and the two aggressive, strong fragrances battled it out as the very definition of 1980s conspicuous consumption.

In the 1990s, the concept of unisex fragrances led by Calvin Klein's CK1 further eroded the notion of exclusivity while at the same time perfume became more accessible than ever through discount stores, chemists and even supermarkets.

Taylor Nelson Sofres, a market research company which tracks perfume sales, says that thanks to competition at retail level the price of the same bottle of perfume can vary by as much as 30 per cent depending on the outlet in which it is purchased. All of which further erodes the mystique of the product.

The notion that consumers can throw a bottle of perfume into a wire basket as part of the weekly shop and the overall decrease in sales values has caused the larger perfume houses to rethink their marketing strategies.

The success of independent perfumeries, particularly the hugely fashionable London-based company, Jo Malone, has led the way. Her trademarks are low key branding and hand mixed, unusual fragrances - the biggest seller in the range is currently Lime, Basil and Mandarin.

The emphasis is on exclusivity and a return to the days when women were looking for scents that would not be instantly recognisable as a brand. The success of her approach can be measured in the column inches her perfumes get in the beauty press and by the traditional commercial yardstick - last month her company was bought by Estee Lauder.

"There's a feeling that women want to find something that's slightly secret," says Mr Roja Dove, Guerlain's Professeur des Parfum and the spokesman in Britain for the US-based global industry monitor, FiFi.

"The industry is having to reclaim its exclusivity and it's doing this by launching limited editions of perfumes and rediscovering old fragrances."

On May 1st, Christian Dior launched a limited edition fragrance called, Lily, which has now sold out worldwide and despite its obvious success the company will not be making any more. Only 200,000 units were made available in Britain.

Its launch was low key and its marketing strategy concentrated on public relations and point-of-sale presence.

Aside from Dior's Lily, Guerlain has Muguet, a lily-ofthe-valley fragrance and Hermes launched Hiris which is an iris scent. If this trend towards single fragrances continues, then women at the start of the next century will be spritzing on almost the exact same scents as women at the start of the 1900s and even the 1800s.

To underline the trend towards exclusivity, Van Cleef & Arpels First Parfum comes in a 30ml Baccarat crystal bottle at £400; while Yves St Laurent Paris is in a limited edition Swarsovski crystal 7.5ml bottle at £150.

The fragrance market is highly competitive and according to Ms Kathy Malone, group buying director for cosmetics at Brown Thomas in Dublin, consumers are increasingly choosing a "wardrobe" of fragrances instead of sticking loyally to one scent.

At least 200 new brands are launched every year and market fragmentation means that the leading brand, usually thought to be Channel No 5, might have as little as a 5 per cent market share. Having less than 2 per cent of the market is enough to push a scent into the top 10.

It is a secretive industry possibly because it is frequently stung by reports such as that from the British Consumer Association which revealed that on average a £30 bottle of perfume contains just £3 worth of ingredients.