Scent Marketing is all about ‘using smell to sell’.

Businesses spend millions of dollars each year using television, print and radio advertising to attract and keep consumers through the senses of sight and hearing.
Today, the more sophisticated businesses are appealing to the sense of smell to persuade consumers to stop, smell and BUY.

Scent Marketing is a growing trend that has been applied with success to advertise and market virtually any type of product.

Studies have shown that a ‘scented environment’ leads to consumers staying longer and spending more. A study of Las Vegas slot players found that players in a scented environment spent 45% more time in their environment than did those in an unscented one.

Another study found that Nike shoes received a better evaluation when reviewed in a scented room.

A vanilla aroma was used by the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York to reduce anxiety in patients before MRIs - and it worked.

The secret of scent is it can create an ‘emotional state’, where the consumer loses the normal sense of time and is totally consumed in the event. This state can last up to several minutes. 

So, how are companies using scent to sell?

They may use the authentic product scent at the point of purchase, diffuse a non product relating ‘ambient scenting’ in their retail space or diffuse a scent at an outdoor marketing event.

Omni Hotels pump a lemon grass and green tea scent into the hotel’s lobbies and public spaces. The Plaza Athenee in New York uses a lavendar and citrus scent to create an appealing environment.

Rolls Royce reproduced the scent of its great seller, the 1965 Silver Cloud and sprayed it under the seats of their vehicles to recreate the scent of this classic model.

A pleasant mood and experience makes for a happy, contented customer who is likely to return.

Some businesses have gone so far as to try to create a unique Scent Logo for themselves.
 
The theory is that consumers will associate a scent with a particular brand so that the scent recalls the brand to the consumer.
 
Samsung has used its own ‘technological’ Scent Logo aroma to create a seductive electronics environment for its customers. For more information, see the Samsung smell reference in our Solutions Portfolio page.


Scent Marketing Studies

 When the aroma of baked bread was released in a United States supermarket, sales in the bakery section increased threefold (Hirsch, 1995, International Journal of Aromatherapy).

 A trial undertaken in a USA casino showed that gambling revenue increased by 48% following the introduction of a pleasant aroma into a test area. The trial concluded that a noticeable scent in the air acts to enhance the mood and intention of patrons, without affecting judgement or exacerbating obsessive gambling behaviour.
(Hirsch, 1995, Psychology and Marketing) 

 In a 1989 trial, customers spent more time browsing at a jewellery counter when a pleasant scent was introduced to the area.
(Knasko, 1989, cited in The Journal of Marketing, USA)

 Maureen Morrin of the school of business at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, in Camden and colleagues tested the effects of smell on the spending habits of mall shoppers.

They pumped a ‘pleasant citrus’ odor throughout a mall in Montreal, Canada, then intercepted shoppers on their way out of the mall and quizzed them on their spending.

They divided the shoppers into two categories: the ‘contemplative’ ones who said they normally only purchased planned items and the ‘impulsive’ purchasers, who claimed to be more whimsical in their spending.

Morrin was surprised to find that the light, pleasant odor had no impact on the impulse buyer, but it did boost the spending of the contemplative shoppers by about 14 per cent compared to others who browsed without the scent. While the result was not dramatic, marketers viewed it as a positive trend.
(Journal of Service Research, vol 8, p 181).