Decoded: Why would an ecommerce darling go physical in 2025?
The viral fragrance dupe brand turned a 2-hour pop-up line into permanent retail success.
In our Decoded series, we reverse-engineer the strategies behind breakout businesses to reveal how they really think. Real companies, real results, real inspo.
Who we’re watching: Dossier. After their $49 luxury dupes went viral on TikTok and a pop-up revealed untapped demand, this fragrance empire launched two NYC locations.
Dossier founder Sergio Tache had already cracked an impossible code: creating $49 fragrance dupes of $300 luxury perfumes and selling them online.
The brand built a cult following through #FragranceTok with viral scents like Ambery Vanilla (their take on YSL’s Black Opium), proving that quality French-made fragrances didn’t need luxury price tags. By 2024, they were a thriving ecommerce success story.
So why risk opening physical stores? “We did it the hard way, which is to sell perfume online first,” Sergio explains. But a Manhattan pop-up changed everything. Lines wrapped around the block for hours.
That pop-up revealed untapped demand for physical fragrance discovery and became the blueprint for two permanent NYC stores that launched this year.
4 shifts that changed the game for Dossier
1. Pop-ups became market research, not just sales drivers
Sergio didn’t just count revenue from the pop-up—he walked the two-hour line asking customers why they came. The answer was simple: “We want to try the perfumes.” This direct feedback confirmed the need for permanent retail space where customers could experience all 150+ fragrances and experiment with layering combinations—an experience impossible to replicate online.
2. Physical space revealed what online couldn’t
The pop-up exposed that Dossier’s Originals Collection—the brand’s own creations that sit alongside luxury dupes—was underperforming online but generated “big enthusiasm” when customers could physically interact with them. “If we want to showcase all the great things we’re doing, we need a physical space where people can interact with perfumes,” Sergio realized.
3. Strategic locations eliminated complexity
Dossier opened its first permanent store in the same Nolita neighborhood as its successful pop-up. This wasn’t just about proven demand—their offices are in NYC, allowing daily customer interaction and real-time optimization. Proximity lets the team treat the store as a laboratory for future expansion.
4. Integrated systems let them show up where it matters
Instead of struggling with different systems for online and in-person sales, Sergio’s team brought their inventory and payments together for all channels. This let the team focus on making the customer experience awesome. “We want to meet customers where they are,” he says. Getting everything to work together so smoothly got rid of the tech headaches that usually mess up the transition from digital to physical.
Physical retail doesn’t replace digital success. But it can amplify what algorithms can’t deliver: human discovery, sensory experience, and the irreplaceable moment when customers find their perfect scent through touch and smell.
Read more about Dossier and the brand’s road to permanent retail on Shopify Newsroom.