Scent Marketing Blog » retail

Hollister store causes a stink

admin — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 11:28:05 +0000

Hollister store causes a stink

The new Hollister store on Houston and Broadway seems to be pumping its fragrance outside its doors, and neighbors are pissed that it’s stinking up the ‘hood, the Post reports today. (One dissenter even allegedly set off a stink bomb outside the So-Cal wannabe-surfer palace in protest.)

It’s only fitting that Hollister has caused such a ruckus; it’s part of the Abercrombie & Fitch franchise, whose stores are notorious for overpowering the olfactory nerves of anyone who walks within 200 yards of their front door. But this isn’t the first time an NYC retailer has stunk up a street. In July, Diane von Furstenberg’s store on West 14th Street reportedly offended passersby because its D Eau de Parfum scent wafted well beyond its doors.

The science of smell isn’t exactly anything new. According to Harald Vogt of the Scent Marketing Institute, scores of new retailers jumped on the scent marketing bandwagon last year, a development he says is largely due to the struggling economy. Hey, we get it. Adopting an aggressive scent strategy to lure in recession-minded shoppers and boost sales makes perfect sense. Especially since it seems to work. According to C. Russell Brumfield, the author of Whiff! The Revolution of Scent Communication in the Information Age, “The science shows that specific scents can increase sales from 20 to over 90 percent in some studies.”

In the past, some retailers, including Jimmy Choo, Lane Bryant, Hallmark, and Guess?, have created customized scents within their stores in the hopes they’ll be imprinted in consumers’ brains, make them feel positively thrilled with the experience, and keep them coming back to spend money. Certain crafty food establishments such as Cinnabon and Kentucky Fried Chicken are known to pump out smells to lure in customers. (So if you’ve got a particularly sensitive sniffer—and you’re not looking to ruin your diet—it’s probably best to steer clear of those sorts of establishments.)

Who knows what other stores are playing Jedi mind tricks with consumers with customized in- and out-of-store smells, but one place that could definitely use a scent overhaul? The BO-ridden NYC subway. Let’s hope an enterprising perfume manufacturer reaches out to the cash-strapped (and clearly desperate) MTA and makes a deal pronto.

Ambient Aromas in retail – Peter Alexander scenting stores

admin — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 08:45:41 +0000

Ambient Aromas in retail - Peter Alexander scenting stores

Retailers have known for decades that a shopping experience should be a complete experience.

This is in particular true in the current climate of uncertainty and financial hardship. Consumers are looking at retailers to offer an escape from the daily grind. A place where they can loose themselves and feel happy about themselves.

Just imagine how disappointed they would be to find out that the store is noisy, sales assistants are uninterested and on top of that the store smells like a wet dog.

I donʼt think they would come back to the store once the economy picks up again.

Fact 1: Our sense of smell impacts our daily emotions and feelings for 75%.

Fact 2: The first 15 seconds of a consumersʼ shopping experience largely determines how they feel about their overall shopping experience.

No wonder that retailers around the world team up with specialist companies to create the perfect shopping experience in their stores by diffusing quality fragrances.

Although scent marketing in its current form is a relatively new marketing discipline, thanks to the progressive and innovative nature of the retail industry retailers around the world are fast embracing scent marketing as a standard brand requirement.

Often they have fragrance diffusion specialists create an exclusive signature fragrance for a retailer or retail chain that perfectly matches their brand identity. Another advantage is that it truly ties in the audio-visual and tactile cues in the store to create a complete story and address all senses.

How contradictive it may sound, in particular during the current global economic downturn retailers are looking for ways to stand out and provide the most complete experience to their consumers. Diffusing an exclusive fragrance that leaves a lasting impression with their guests is no doubt the most powerful way to do this.

A good example of a retailer in Australia who has implemented scent marketing is Peter Alexander, they teamed up with Air Aroma International to create a powerful scent brand strategy. Walk into one of their six larger stores (e.g. Chadstone in Melbourne, George St in Sydney) and you are immediately taken into ʻPeterʼs Worldʼ. Quirky visual merchandising, friendly staff, hip music and a subtle scent lingering in the background to complement the overall ambiance.

Peter Alexander has even gone one step further by diffusing four different fragrances throughout the day to create four slightly different experiences. Whatever time of the day it is however, the scents always match the overall Peter Alexander story and what the brand stands for.

When it comes to technologies used to diffuse scents, many different options are available.

From oil burners and candles to spray cans and fan-forced units with gels. These methods all work to a certain degree, but either pose a fire hazard or are only effective for a short period and donʼt offer a consistent scent output.

Cold-air diffusion is the way to go. Under pressure of filtered cold air, a fragrance oil is dispersed into a dry mist of microscopic small droplets, often smaller than 2.0 micron (by comparison, a spray can produces droplets of between 50-80 micron). This dry mist of fragrance then mixes with the air in the store (either via the HVAC or straight into the air) to create the perfect ambiance. Another key advantage of using this technology is that it preserves the properties and quality of the fragrances and ensures an even scent.

Bebe stores across U.S now scent marketing

admin — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 05:31:39 +0000

Bebe stores across U.S now scent marketing

Bebe Stores has launched its highly anticipated new fragrance in all U.S. bebe stores. Thanks to a partnership with Milwaukee-based Prolitec, the sensuous new “signature” scent now wafts through select areas of bebe’s stores via the Air/Q(TM) Adjustable Room Air Freshener(TM) — a miniaturized and fully programmable version of Prolitec’s ambient-scenting technology, which is already in use at many of the world’s finest hotels, resorts and spas.

“Rather than scenting the entire store, bebe is using Air/Q to scent specific in-store areas, such as those around the luxurious visual displays that introduce the new fragrance,” explained Roger Bensinger, Prolitec’s Executive Vice President of Marketing and Business Development. “This allows bebe to marry its visual marketing efforts with the olfactory experience of the fragrance itself — a very powerful combination.”

“With Prolitec’s innovative scenting machines strategically placed in our stores, clients will experience an immediate emotional connection to the scent,” commented Manny Mashouf, Chairman & CEO, bebe stores, inc. “This is a terrific way to reveal our new undeniably feminine fragrance in a subtle yet sensual manner and, based on initial results, we are encouraged by the overwhelming response.”

The retailer licensed the new fragrance through France’s Inter Parfums, Inc. (Nasdaq GS: IPAR), which collaborates with noted designers such as Francis Kurkdjian to manufacture and distribute prestige perfumes and cosmetics for the likes of Burberry, Paul Smith, S.T. Dupont and Van Cleef & Arpels.

Related Link: http://www.prolitec.com

The Economist predicts scent marketing boom!

admin — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:26:52 +0000

The World in 2009 is the 23rd edition of The Economist’s annual collection of predictions for the coming year. This year, The Economist predicts the boom of scent marketing as one of its business related predictions for 2009.

Retailers and their marketers are expected to trial an array of fragrances as part of a desperate assault on the senses. With the global economic climate as it is it has never been more important for retailers to entice people into stores, encourage them to spend more and ultimately come back again.

According to The Economist “smell is the new frontier”, predicting that at least one large supermarket, a fast food chain and shopping malls will try out a selection of smells, sights and sounds on their customers to beat the lure of online shopping and discount stores.

In 2009, the multisensory shopping experience awaits. The SMB would love to hear your experiences of instore scent marketing.
economist.com

Making Dollars with Scents

admin — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 21:07:27 +0000

Making Dollars with Scents – A new frontier in branding. Coming to grips with the link between Scent, Emotions and Memory, Marketers are now investigating the effect on consumer behaviour.

Scent sells. Baristas, bakers and real estate agents all have something in their bag of tricks based on this knowledge. Baristas have mastered the art of seducing passers by with the aromatic allure of freshly ground coffee. Bakers, understanding that smell can tantalise the taste buds, blast their oven fans with the anticipation of stimulating appetites and mesmerising consumers into a short detour from their frantic shopping routine. There is also an old trick in real estate – bake fresh bread or cookies just before a home is open for inspection. The theory is that it will increase the property’s saleability more than a fresh lick of paint or its proximity to the local shops.

Based on the idea that the right scent can put consumers in a frame of mind to buy, a new frontier in marketing is also emerging. Scent Marketing is predicted to be one of the top ten marketing trends of 2007 and retailers are jumping onboard. In a bid to win the consumer dollar, some retailers are going to great lengths to develop and diffuse concoctions that are both enticing and one of a kind.
The potential of scent marketing shouldn’t be underestimated. Air Aroma, the largest supplier of scent diffusion technology in the world, has a worldwide turnover of $20 million a year with forecasts predicting 50 percent to 75 percent growth a year. Martin Lindstrom – author of Brand Sense: Build powerful brands through touch, taste, smell, sight and sound – says that 75 percent of all emotions are due to smell rather than what we see, yet 83 percent of commercial communication presently revolves around visual stimuli.

According to Donald A. Wilson, a neurobiologist who studies olfaction at the University of Oklahoma in the United States, using scent is clever marketing. The olfactory gland, which registers smell, is linked to the limbic system in the middle part of the brain. The limbic system is important for memory and emotions and it has been suggested that smell can influence mood, memory, emotions, mate choice, the immune system and hormones.

Coming to grips with the link between scent, emotions and memory, marketers are now investigating the effect aromas have on consumer behaviour in a retail environment. Marketing Professor Mimi Morrin from Rutgers University in the US conducted research on consumers in a scented environment and found they actually looked at a product for longer which increased the likelihood of them buying it.

“A pleasant ambient scent increased the amount of money spent by a certain type of shopper, a more contemplative shopper or a more cognitively oriented shopper.”
Not only can the right scent subtly prompt consumers to spend more time in a retail environment, but a pleasurable scent could also create a “flow state” where a person loses the normal sense of time and is totally consumed by the event. This flow state can last up to several minutes.
A study conducted at a Las Vegas casino on slot machine players revealed that gambling revenue increased by 48% when scent was introduced into the test area. Another trial conducted at a jeweller in 1989 revealed that customers spent more time browsing when a scent was introduced into the store.

For some retailers, the use of scent has been an effective means of drawing people into their store. US ice cream chain Emack & Bolio’s had been suffering floundering sales at its hard to find ice cream parlour in the basement of the Hard Rock Hotel in Orlando. After exhausting a number of strategies to increase sales, the company decided to install a diffusion system that emanated the aroma of waffle cones. The installation of its “aroma billboard” led to a 50 percent increase in sales.
The aroma billboard, which highlights the wares of the retailer, is based on the same concept as bakers opening up their ovens to attract clientele or cafés grinding coffee to seduce consumers into their premises. Bloomingdales has been using aroma billboards in several departments of its stores. In its infant department it used the scent of baby powder and around its intimate apparel and swimsuit displays it used hints of lilac and coconut. According to David van Epps, CEO of US scent diffusion supplier, Scent Air, a number of toy retailers have expressed interest in developing the Play Doh scent, a smell that is closely tied to many childhoods.
Used the right way, the aroma billboard can be a powerful marketing tool that can accelerate sales markedly. When a Californian based scent marketing company Scent Andrea added a chocolate aroma to vending machines, sales jumped 300 percent. In another instance, when the aroma of baked bread was released into a US supermarket, sales in its bakery section also increased threefold.

Although the aroma billboard can effectively highlight products such as candles, coffee, or flowers, an unrelated aroma creating an ambient scent can also win over customers.
Avery N. Gilbert, chief scientist of the Scent Marketing Institute of New York told The Washington Times that scents humanise shopping environments that would otherwise seem sterile. Though this might be true, anecdotal evidence suggests that the right scent is vital if you want to see your cash register go into overdrive. When a subtle vanilla scent was placed in the women’s department of a US clothing store and rose maroc – a heavy spicy scent that men tend to like – in the men’s department, sales nearly doubled. When the scents were swapped, sales fell.
Some retailers have taken the idea of selecting the right scent a step further. In Japan, Matsuzakaya Department Store releases different scents into the air at various times of the day to match the natural highs and lows of the body. State of the art diffusion technology releases scents to uplift and invigorate shoppers earlier in the day and soothing scents for weary shoppers later in the day.
A number of companies are even incorporating scent into their branding strategies. The theory is that scent is closely associated with memory, so associating a unique scent with a particular brand will enhance brand recall.

With so much effort going into creating signature scents, some companies are attempting to trademark their smells. In the EU, a Dutch company trademarked the scent of fresh grass for use on tennis balls, another company trademarked rose scented tyres and, oddly, one company applied the scent of bitter beer to its darts.

Scent marketing is still in its embryonic stages in Australia, but is set to follow in the footsteps of the US, EU and Japan. A number of gyms are diffusing peppermint to disguise body odours and invigorate members, hotels are emanating signature scents through its lobbies and hallways and now some retailers are starting to adopt the practice.

Pilgrim Clothing employed Air Aroma to develop a signature scent for its stores. The aroma is described as an “earthy, soft and feminine fragrance to reflect its feminine brand”. Owner of the twelve store chain, Grant Olver, was amazed with the immediate response from customers. He believes the introduction of scent has enhanced the shopper’s experience, which might give his stores a unique edge over the competition.

The cost of indulging customers with an olfactory experience to gain an edge in the marketplace varies widely. Smaller retailers can buy simple smells off the shelf for little over $100 a month including diffuser rental. On the other hand, larger retailers might use more sophisticated systems that entail motion detectors or timers, and if they devise signature smells the price could escalate into the tens of thousands to get up and running.

For retailers who want to make their mark on consumers, scent marketing carries a lot of potential. It is a new frontier in marketing that could represent a real opportunity for those willing to take a risk. The brave might just find that if they get it right, there are real rewards. After all, research has revealed that people can recall smell with up to 64 percent accuracy. This, coupled with the fact that it can play on our heart strings is where its appeal lies.

Article courtesy of Australian Retailers Association