The cheapest shops to buy perfume

A bottle of high-end perfume can make for an extra-special gift, but our research shows that you could find a better deal by looking beyond dedicated fragrance retailers. 

We analysed a year's worth of pricing data (between September 2024 and September 2025), including promotional offers but not multibuys, for 13 popular branded perfumes at Amazon, Argos, Boots, John Lewis, Superdrug, The Fragrance Shop, The Perfume Shop and Very, to find the cheapest and most expensive retailers.

Read on to find out how much you could be saving by shopping around, which retailer was cheapest for your favourite brand, plus how to save on perfume, including tips on rarely discounted Jo Malone sets.

The cheapest place to buy perfumes

Our snapshot investigation found Amazon was regularly the cheapest place to go. It came in as the cheapest retailer on average for six perfumes in our analysis, but it was the most expensive for one of the products in our analysis.

Although the availability of perfumes direct from Amazon was a little patchy – they tend to come in and out of stock quite regularly – Prime sales in July and October were a good time to find a fragrance deal.

The two dedicated fragrance retailers in our research were the most expensive for most of the perfumes. The Fragrance Shop was the most expensive, on average, for five of the fragrances, while The Perfume Shop was the most expensive for four of them.

Our research shows that it's worth shopping around, as there were some scent-sational savings to be had. 

The biggest difference was for Calvin Klein CK In2u Him (150ml), which cost £20.42, on average, at Amazon and £57.77, on average, at John Lewis – a 183% price difference. 

Read on to find out the cheapest and most expensive retailer on average for your favourite brand, or use the links below:

• Calvin Klein
• Chanel
• Dior
• Estée Lauder
• Jean Paul Gaultier
• Marc Jacobs
• Yves Saint Laurent

The cheapest retailer for Calvin Klein perfumes

Amazon was the cheapest retailer for both sizes of the Calvin Klein CK In2U eau de toilette. 

The 150ml bottle was £20.42 on average at Amazon, with the cheapest price at £18 (shortly before Black Friday 2024). It was consistently priced around £20. 

At John Lewis, the lowest price for the 150ml bottle during the analysis period was £26.50, and it cost an average of £57.77 across the year. 

The 100ml bottle was £17.92 on average at Amazon, and Argos was slightly more expensive, on average, at £18.98. The Perfume Shop was the most expensive by far, with an average price 1.5 times that of Amazon. 

 The cheapest retailer for Chanel perfumes

We looked at the prices for two popular Chanel perfumes, both 100ml bottles. 

The Chanel Bleu De Eau Parfum Spray was £109.15, on average, at Boots, with John Lewis just £1 more expensive, on average. At Amazon, the same perfume was £136.17, on average, and it didn't drop below £121.55 in the year. 

For Chanel No. 5 – the first perfume released by Coco Chanel in 1921 – John Lewis was the cheapest retailer on average. There wasn't a huge variation in price between the shops, possibly because this staple perfume has been around long enough to resist huge fluctuations in popularity and demand. Based on availability, we compared prices at Boots, John Lewis, The Fragrance Shop and The Perfume Shop, and found that the maximum price at all retailers was the same (£149). So, if you see it above that price, then look for a better deal. 

The cheapest place to get Dior perfumes

John Lewis was the cheapest retailer for two of the three Dior perfumes in our analysis, and Boots was the cheapest for the third. Dedicated fragrance shops were the most expensive for Dior perfumes. 

The Dior J'adore Eau De Parfum (30ml) was £67.30, on average, at John Lewis. There wasn't a lot between the average price at the cheapest and most expensive shops, but at the Fragrance Shop, it was £72.61, and even the lowest price (£72) was higher than the average at John Lewis. 

For Dior Miss Eau De Parfum (100ml), John Lewis was also the cheapest, on average, for the year. The Perfume Shop had the highest price on average at £143.89. 

Boots was the cheapest place to buy Dior Sauvage, on average. There wasn't much of a difference between retailers for this fragrance, probably because it's been around for a while and is well known. It was available at all of the retailers in our analysis apart from Superdrug and Very. The highest price we saw at any retailer was £122, while the lowest price was £87.55. 

The cheapest place for Estée Lauder perfumes

There were substantial price differences between the cheapest and most expensive shops for the Estée Lauder perfumes in our analysis. 

Once again, Amazon was the cheapest, on average, while the dedicated perfume retailers were the most expensive, and by some margin. The Perfume Shop was more than double the price, on average, compared with Amazon, while The Fragrance Shop was 89% more expensive. 

The Estée Lauder Beautiful (30ml) fragrance was available at Superdrug, and was discounted for members of the Superdrug Beautycard loyalty scheme on a few occasions throughout the year. Members would have paid £52.48, on average, and non-members £53.24. 

The highest price we saw at any retailer for the Estée Lauder Beautiful Magnolia Eau De Parfum Spray (100ml) was £104. 

The cheapest place for Jean Paul Gaultier perfume

There was a 19% difference, on average, between the cheapest shop (Amazon) and the most expensive shop (The Fragrance Shop) for the Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male Eau De Parfum 75ml.

 The lowest price we spotted for this fragrance at the retailers that stocked it was £59. So if you find a bottle for around £60, that's likely to be a decent deal.

 The cheapest place for Marc Jacobs Daisy

Superdrug was the cheapest retailer, on average, for both Marc Jacobs perfumes in our analysis. Those with a Superdrug Beautycard would have saved £1.10, on average, on Daisy Dream (100ml) and 45p on Daisy (50ml). 

Very was the most expensive for Daisy Dream throughout the year (£90.50), closely followed by John Lewis (£89.60). 

Argos was the most expensive, on average, for Marc Jacobs Daisy, although John Lewis, Boots, Superdrug and The Perfume Shop had the highest price (£75). The lowest price across the year was £35 at Superdrug.

The cheapest place for Yves Saint Laurent Black Opium

The Black Opium fragrance from Yves Saint Laurent was £101.92, on average, at Amazon, compared with £127.63 at The Fragrance Shop – a 25% difference. 

The highest price at any retailer was £130, while the lowest was £75. A price around the £80 mark would be a good deal for this scent. 

Shopping safely on Amazon

A recent Which? investigation uncovered counterfeit cosmetics on online marketplaces, including Amazon. So if you're looking for a perfume deal, we recommend checking who is selling and dispatching a product. Ideally, only buy perfumes that are shipped and sent directly by Amazon. While this isn't a guarantee, it's an extra barrier between you and a dodgy product. 

If you find a deal that's too good to pass up, do your research before clicking 'buy'. Check product and seller reviews, and search for terms such as 'fake' or 'counterfeit'. Keep in mind that bad actors may also use fake positive reviews to hide negative ratings, so be sure to read reviews from a variety of star ratings.  

• Find out more: what you need to know about online marketplaces.

How to save money when shopping for perfumes

We asked 3,547 people who had bought perfume within the past year whether they had done anything to save money on their purchase. 

A quarter of people said that they had bought Duty Free perfume in an effort to save, while one in five said that they buy a larger bottle size. It's worth comparing the value per 100ml for the perfume you buy, as you could be saving money in the long run by sizing up. 

Just 8% said that they have bought a dupe version of a perfume, despite the growth of dupe fragrance sites such as The Essence Vault and Noted Aromas. 

• Find out more: the best fake tans for a summer glow all year round.

How can I save money on Jo Malone fragrances? 

Jo Malone has a bit of a cult following. It's popular and is stocked mainly in Jo Malone concessions in retailers such as John Lewis, plus online fragrance stores, including Cult Beauty and LookFantastic. There are also around 40 standalone Jo Malone stores in the UK. 

It has a relatively high price. Some of its scented products, such as Lime Basil and Mandarin or Pomegranate candles, have been duped by other brands (including Aldi). 

We looked at a year's worth of pricing data for Jo Malone colognes at John Lewis and found very little variation in the price. Even extending it to two years, there were only tiny fluctuations between the minimum and maximum prices for the products, suggesting Jo Malone is rarely, if ever, on offer at John Lewis. 

With that in mind, we worked out the cheapest way to buy some of its most popular colognes. A 9ml bottle is £18, working out at £2 per ml or £200 per 100ml. The initial outlay for a 100ml bottle seems high at £118, but per ml it's £1.22 – a 78p saving for every ml you use. 

For real fans of Jo Malone scents, the 2025 Advent Calendar offers good value – particularly if you like a lot of the scents. It costs £360, but we believe the value of the products inside is around £700. There are some miniature sizes in there, with all the fragrances in the 9ml version, but some larger items, too, such as 100ml bottles of hand wash (which are usually £20). There's a real variety of scents in the calendar, so if you are fussier with your fragrances, then it may not be the one for you. 

Jo Malone also offers a range of free in-store services. These range from 15 minutes for services such as 'discover your scent' through to a 45-minute 'scent your wedding' session, which includes a hand massage and typically a glass of prosecco. You'll usually get free samples to take home, too.

• Find out more: beauty advent calendars everyone is talking about.