Scent marketing in retail stores can boost sales and improve the customer experience. Adding scents has been shown to increase sales by up to 20%, encourage longer shopping visits, and lead customers to perceive products and stores more positively. The olfactory system is directly linked to emotions and memory in the brain, so scents can create strong emotional and memorable associations for brands. Various scientific studies have demonstrated that ambient scents in stores can change consumer behavior in beneficial ways for retailers such as higher spending and increased intent to return.

1. Scent Marketing for Retailers
A Strategy to Sell More, Increase Repeat Visits and Build Your Brand
www.thinksensory.com

2. Scent Is More Powerful Than You Think
The olfactory system is
directly connected to the
limbic system, the seat of
human emotions, and the
hippocampus, the memory
center of the brain.
Emotion and memory are key
drivers of purchase behavior.
www.thinksensory.com

3. Scent Marketing in Your Store
Numerous scientific studies
have proven that adding scent
to the store environment
affects consumer behavior in a
variety of ways that are good
for business.
Increase sales
Improve customer perceptions of your
store & product quality
Encourage customers to spend more time
in your store
Associate positive emotions with your
store and products
Increase customers’ intention to return to
your store
www.thinksensory.com

4. Scent Boosts Sales
• In a clothing store, sales
almost doubled on days
when a gender-specific
scent was used.
• Scent in a casino proved to
increase gambling revenue
by 45%.
• At a restaurant, patrons
spent 15% more time and
20% more money in a
scented environment
versus non-scented.
www.thinksensory.com

5. People spend
more time in
jewelry stores
that are
scented.
Customers who
spend 40 minutes in
a store are twice as
likely to buy as
those who spend 10
minutes.
Customers are
willing to spend
10-15% more
money for the
same item in
stores that have
scent.
Scent increases recall
of unfamiliar brand
names and increases
recall of specific
products and their
features.
Scent Changes Consumer Behavior
www.thinksensory.com

6. Scent Changes Consumer Perceptions
Ambient scent increases
positive product evaluations
by 25%.
When asked to evaluate the
quality of two identical products,
subjects consistently rated the
product in the scented room as
being of higher quality.
www.thinksensory.com

7. Rising Emphasis on Scent
General merchandise and
grocery stores, take note:
More and more CPG
companies are placing a
heavier strategic
emphasis on scent.
This is supported by
shifting demographics,
particularly the growing
Hispanic population in the US, who seek out products with strong fra
www.thinksensory.com

8. The Fragrance Conundrum
Fragrance in
consumer
packaged goods,
personal care and
cosmetics is a
major
differentiator
But, the fragrance
is locked inside
the bottle and can
only be enjoyed
after purchase
www.thinksensory.com

9. Beyond the Bottle
Scent marketing liberates
fragrance from the confines of the
bottle.
Now the fragrance that defines
the brand can be used to sell more
product!
www.thinksensory.com

10. Why Scent at the Point of Purchase?
To introduce a
new product or a
new scent
To reinforce a
trusted and
familiar product
scent
To “explain” the
product’s scent
www.thinksensory.com

11. Scent Marketing Can Help Cut Costs
Using scent marketing can help
CPG companies and retailers
save money by removing the
need for costly self-sampling of
scent
Reduce spills, drips and
damaged product
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12. Scent Helps Sell Soft Goods Too
In scented stores,
customers:
• Spend more time
• Spend more money
• Develop a better opinion
of the store and its products
www.thinksensory.com

13. Scent Makes Food More Appetizing
• Sampling foods is a highly
effective strategy to increase
grocery sales, but it is
expensive and labor
intensive
• Scent can be used as a
substitute because 70% of
what we experience as
flavor is actually aroma
• For example, when the
aroma of fresh baked bread
was dispersed in a grocery
store, sales in the bakery
section tripled.
www.thinksensory.com

14. Many Top Retailers Already Use Scent
Marketing
www.thinksensory.com

15. Scent Marketing Methods
Ambient scenting
Can be done with motion-activated, timed or user-
initiated shelf devices, or ambient scenting with free-
standing machines or scent diffusers connected to the
HVAC system
Advertising
Direct mail envelopes and postcards can be
scented, as can print advertisements in
magazines and coupons and POS displays
www.thinksensory.com

16. What are you waiting for? It’s time to
• World-renowned sensory marketing expert, quoted
in Bloomberg Businessweek, Advertising Age,
AdWeek, Forbes and many other media
• Scientifically proven methodologies tailored to your
real world business
• Our systems are risk-free. We are the only sensory
marketing company that guarantees ROI.
www.thinksensory.com

17. Cited Scent Studies
• Fresh baked bread study - Hirsch, 1995, International Journal of Aromatherapy
• “Effects of Ambient Odors on Slot Machine Usage in a Las Vegas Casino” Hirsch, 1995,
Psychology and Marketing
• “Odors and Consumer Behavior in a Restaurant” Gueguen and Petr, 2006, International
Journal of Hospitality Management
• “A Study on an Effect of Olfactory Stimulation on Product Image by the Type of the Product”
Oh, Lee and Kim, Dept. of Industrial Design, KAIST, Daejeon, Korea
• “Ambient Odor and Shopping Behavior” Knasko, 1989 Chemical Senses
• “The Impact of Ambient Scent on Evaluation, Attention, and Memory for Familiar and
Unfamiliar Brands” Morrin and Ratneshar, 2000, Journal of Business Research
• Athletics study - Raudenbush, Wheeling Jesuit University
• “The Presence of a Pleasant Ambient Scent in a Fashion Store”, Douce and
Janssens, Environment and Behavior, 2011
• “Product Scent and Memory” Krishna, Lwin and Morrin, 2009, Journal of Consumer Research
• "Air-Design: Exploring The Role Of Scents in Retail Environments", Stohr, 1998, European
Advances in Consumer Research