 Scent Sensibility |
| |
 |
Ambient scenting
Whether you are the owner of a huge mall or run a small women's clothing store, the retail environment is very important for you. If your customers do not like spending time in your environment they certainly won't be bringing any money to you either. A study made for IKEA by Professor Anja Stöhr from Dresden Business School showed that people clearly enjoy scented spaces. The study showed a 54% increase in dwelling time, a 17% growth in customer satisfactory and a 16% growth in sales when scents were added to the environment! What's the catch, you might ask. Why isn't everyone using scents if they are so powerful? For scents to work effectively you need to have the right fragrance and the right delivery system for it. If they are not correct, things might backfire.
We make scent systems and have fragrances that suit every environment and need. That is why we work with all the best in their area and with fragrance designers around the world. By doing this, we can offer a solution for every space and need so you can concentrate on your core business while we make your environment pleasant.
Small scent areas
Creating an ambient scent environment for smaller areas can be done through many different ways. Even if your retail space is big in size, making smaller scent areas is not necessary a bad idea. In fact, we often suggest creating small scent areas in places where people pass by. This way the customer doesn't get anosmia, which means they get so used to the scent that they can't smell it anymore. For small space scenting we offer our clients dry air and oil nebulisation systems. Dry air technology is great when space sizes are between 10-33m² while our small oil diffuser units can cover up to 60m².
Large scent areas
When we are talking about scenting large areas, we mean areas of 100-300m². For these areas we can supply multiple possibilities. Some machines work better in heavily ventilated areas while others work best in high spaces. Almost every space is different and there are many derivatives involved, which require the process to be made carefully. The key to success with scents is having the right technology and the right scent for the right space.
Scent via HVAC
If you want scent large areas like malls, big retail spaces or parking garages, we suggest hooking up our machines into your HVAC system(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HVAC). This way the scent mixes into a greater volume of air and becomes very subtle. Scents running through HVAC cover large spaces and if you want to e.g. get rid of unpleasant mall odour, this is an efficient way to do it. Most of the machines we offer have the option of HVAC hook up.
Case:
Coffee Bar Problem:
How to get customers to choose your coffee bar in a mall environment with dozens of other options.
Solution:
As we know, when you get whiff of fresh baked apple pie or fresh brewed coffee, your mouth starts watering. The problem this coffee bar had was that with today's air tight coffee brewers and glass covered shelves, none of that whiff was reaching the potential customers. By installing a scent system at the entrance we made sure that people would notice them.
Result:
The scent system worked like a charm. It let people know what awaited them inside the store. Installing the scent at the entrance was optimal for many reasons; it tells potential customers what the place has to offer and when they walk out, it reminds them once again of the experience. This way the "scent image" of the place lasts longer in their memory.
|
 |
 |
Product promotion
How can well-known brands do million dollar mass marketing campaigns and still fail? Well, sometimes marketing efforts are not taking into consideration the consumer or they are not aware of the marketing efforts done by competing brands. Only 15 years ago, mass marketing worked like a charm. You made a print-TV-radio campaign and people would rush to buy your products. Why is it not that easy anymore? Today in grocery stores there aren't just three brands in every category, there might be 30 competing brands in the same category. Consumers are not as brand loyal as they used to be, and they shouldn't be.
C o m p e t i t i o n i s g o o d f o r p r o d u c t d e v e l o p m e n t.
What is the best way to market a consumer good brand? There are probably million different answers to this, but let's look at some facts that support in-store marketing.
- Today, 70% of supermarket purchase decisions are made in the store. 25 years ago this was the opposite; people decided what to buy at home.
- Consumers make their purchase decision within the first 4-8 seconds of entering an aisle. With only 10 competing brands can you be sure they even see you in that time?
- If one of the competing brands has some kind of special marketing activity going on, the consumer will focus mostly on that and your mass media ads won't help anymore.
- There are multiple ways to do effective brand marketing but if you are not standing out in the competition, most of the effort might go to waste. We have multiple options for different scent campaigns; we can integrate units into displays, make under shelf units etc. Diffusion can work with constant release, timed release, or motion triggered release. We will be glad to provide you with a solution that suits your purpose best!
In-store scent sampling
We have designed dozens of innovative scent sampling solutions for detergents, shower gels, shampoos and other products where the unique attribute is scent. When a quality scent is your biggest differentiator, you need to make sure your potential customers can try the scent before they buy the product! Our solutions can be either disposable units or electric units integrated in your existing display.
In-store marketing
Since smells speak straight to the brain, wouldn't it be smart to ask it, if it wants to buy your product? Craving for coffee or sweets, peaks when you can smell the product. With our motion triggered systems we can trigger that smell just seconds before the consumer is about to pass your product. If you are a store owner and want to see sales grow in a specific product category (e.g. fruits and vegetables) we can design a solution that works through the category.
Contact us and we will tell you more how you could start growing your sales! |
 |
Signature scent
Creating a signature scent does not differ much from creation of a logo or corporate identity. They are there to communicate an image of a company. Colour, sound and scent can all communicate how the company wants to be perceived. Whether it is trendy, conservative, innovative or ecological, all these can be communicated through scents. Scents are suitable for this because a smell can be recalled at a much higher accuracy for a much longer time than something you have seen.
Branding is everywhere and people get exposed to so many different brands every day that it is hard to differentiate from others and that is why signature scents have become the new logo.
Fully tailored scents
Tailored design is never cheap, but only a few good things in life are. We offer a fully tailored scent which is made by some of the world's best fragrance designers so you can be sure you will receive the best results. This process starts by us making a fragrance brief with you. Together we discuss what you want to communicate with the scent, what would fit your brand identity and how you want to utilize the scent. Once we know what you are looking for and a bit about where you are heading to, we start our work with the fragrance designer. We translate your wishes and strategy so that the fragrance designer can come up with the best suiting signature scent for you. Once samples are created we present them to you and start refining the best ones. This process can take anywhere from 1-12 months, depending on where the scent is to be used and how much it needs refining.
Signature scent from library
Getting a signature scent does not need to be expensive. There are thousands of lovely scents that are still looking for a brand to connect with. A library signature scent can be good choice for someone who does not need a truly exclusive scent with multiple twists. This process is easier and shorter in time as well. But just as with the fully tailored scent, we need to do assess your needs and current branding in order to be able to suggest a brand scent for you. We often start by examining your industry and your company's existing marketing so that we can immediately start presenting you with ideas.
Case:
Brand scent Problem:
How to get people spend more time in a retail environment, get rid of the mall odour and to communicate the brand, all at the same time. Did I also mention that they had a tight budget?
Solution:
This equation looked like it was a tough one to solve. The corporate identity was fresh, young and natural. This was a good sign, since fresh scents often work well in getting rid off mall odour. Since brand scenting was pretty new in the part of the world where this client is active, we decided to brand them with a fresh cut grass scent. It is a very familiar scent which gives a fresh feeling and gets people on a good mood each time they encounter it.
Result:
This implementation was a true success. The signature scent has also been implemented in their direct mail campaigns and they have created remarkable response rates. The results have been even better than we could imagine. The customer is happy, we are happy. |
 |
Scent marketing
Scent marketing itself is nothing new. Bakers have intentionally spread the scent of fresh baked breads and buns in their stores, coffee shops have opened coffee bags to spread the aromas of coffee and realtors have baked cookies in a house they're about to show, to make them feel more like a home. The reason why scent marketing is such a hot topic at the moment is partly because the new technology lets us use scents more effectively and now we can control them much better than before.
The sense of smell is one of our strongest senses. The smell registers in the limbic system of the brain where the sensorial information is elaborated. Because the distance, which the smell has to travel from the nose to this specific part of the brain, is remarkably short, the smell is processed more quickly than other senses. We also have a great capacity to remember them: we can recall smells with around 65 percent accuracy after a year. In comparison, our recall of images is a lot lower, at around 50 percent after only three months.
Scent marketing is a fast growing trend in advertising. Studies have shown that a scented environment leads consumers to stay longer and spend more something.
Scent facts
- There are about 100 000 scents in the world of which 1000 are primary scents and the rest are countless combinations of various scents (Lindstrom, 2005).
- Can only the presence of a scent affect us in so many ways as just described? When exploring the subject based on the human anatomy, what is known is that the human body has between 6 and 10 million receptor cells located in the air passages of the nose and by using these cells humans are capable of distinguishing some 2000 to 4000 different aromas (Strugnell and Jones, 1999).
- Just to compare, a sheepdog's nose contains about 220 million cells so the human sense of smell is in comparison very poor, but still surprisingly acute. The smell registers in the limbic system of the brain where the sensorial information is elaborated. Because the distance, which the smell has to travel from the nose to this specific part of the brain, is remarkably short, the smell is processed more quickly than other senses. We also have a great capacity to remember them: we can recall smells with around 65 percent accuracy after a year. In comparison, our recall of images is a lot lower, at around 50 percent after only three months (Bell and Bell, 2007).
- This ability for smells to stay in our memory means we form an emotional attachment to them (Lindstrom, 2005).
- When comparing our five senses according to their importance when evaluating, it is interesting to notice that scent is in a surprisingly important position. According to Lindstrom (2005:69), the most important sense is vision with 58 percent which is also most often applied, smell is the second most important with 45 percent, hearing with 41 percent as the third most important followed by taste 31 percent and touch 25 percent.
What can you do with scents?
Boost sales with scents!
Hershey's Chocolate significantly spurred sales at point of purchase with scent delivery technology installed in vending machines in California tourist locations. Hersey's reigned supreme over the other three brand choices as the company sold 300 percent more chocolate than the others.
Scents influence moods!
Scents influence people in different ways. They activate or passivate, they can regulate the feeling of temperature. For instance when lemon oil was diffused throughout a Japanese office building, productivity among data entry operators increased by 54%!
Sell more with scents!
In 2005, when Exxon On The Run convenience stores in North Carolina highlighted a new brewing system with coffee scents from a scent marketing company, coffee sales perked up by a healthy 55%.
Tasty Smells Trigger Impulse Sells
A recent (7/2008) 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!
|