The goal for any retailer is to get customers in its doors and keep them inside for as long as possible. The longer a customer stays, the more likely they are to spend money. Hiring good-looking sales people and offering money-saving deals are not new, but now, more and more fashion retailers are venturing into a new frontier of scent branding.
“Smell can entice consumers to stay longer, shop longer and purchase more,” according to Elizabeth Musmanno, president of The Fragrance Foundation. The tactic is different from the annoying salesperson that attacks you with mists of cologne at every department store. Instead, stores are hiring scent marketing brands like ScentAir and 12.29 to create customized subtly-scented smell goods to be deployed throughout the store.
Subconscious cues to get you to spend more or stay longer are nothing new. McDonald's and other fast food chains employ red, yellow, and orange trigger hunger. And if you’ve ever wondered why casino carpets are so ugly, one theory is that they’re designed to keep you gambling.
Stores like H&M and Calvin Klein are already employing this new scent method. Even a non-retailer like the Barclays Center—a ScentAir client—is also getting everyone to get a whiff of its musk. Studies show that 65 percent of people will associate a certain memory to scent after one year, so it's safe to say plenty of stores will be attacking your nose soon.
[via BoF]
