Romancing the Senses of Holiday Shoppers

This year, while you're pondering what possessed you to buy that plaid necktie for Uncle George or that chartreuse sweater for Aunt Barbara, stop and take a deep breath. No, really. Because that impulse buy might have been triggered, literally, by... Something in the Air. Advertising Age Magazine ranked scent marketing as one of the "Top 10 Trends to Watch," while Martin Howard, author of "We Know What You Want: How They Change Your Mind," rated it #3 on his list of “10 Disturbing Trends in Subliminal Advertising.” These perspectives are totally at odds, of course. The same statistic cited as a warning by Howard that "one study into use of airborne aromas, pumped into a Canadian mall, resulted in an increase of over $50 per customer that week" is referenced gleefully by savvy retailers who have stepped into the multisensory age of advertising. But both perspectives point to a single common conclusion: Scent marketing works. Whether or not you are keen on the idea of retailers reaching for your wallet through your nose, it's an unstoppable phenomenon with limitless possibilities that isn't going anywhere but up--because it works. The Canadian study listed above is but one example of many (and, not to nit-pick, but the increase in purchases when the environment was scented was actually over $55 per customer). Orlando's Hard Rock Hotel had an under-performing ice cream shop called Emack and Bolio’s, which was poorly situated in the basement. What to do? The enterprising company employed a “waffle cone” scent to attract customers down the stairs to the shop. Sales increase? Forty-five percent. Another test was done on a Hershey’s vending machine. After deploying the scent of chocolate in the environment around the machine, sales of candy bars shot through the roof to an increase of 66 percent. Overall vending machine products in the test increased 12 percent. A recent Singapore study showed that shoppers exposed to the aroma of fresh cookies were inclined to seek a “quick fix” through an impulse purchase--such as a new sweater or lottery ticket--even after being reminded that their budget was tight.n