16 Aug The smell of commerce: How companies use scents to sell their products
Businesses looking to sniff out a commercial opportunity have been aware of the power of smell for a long time, even if this has usually focused on shifting products that cover up malodorous breath, armpits or feet. Using scents to sell is moving mainstream…
Time magazine reported last month that the aromas of chocolate and baked bread in the Net Cost grocery store in Brooklyn, New York, are all artificial, being pumped into the store by machine. Their story kicked up a bit of a stink, and generated considerable interest in a form of marketing that has, until relatively recently, been largely overlooked.
Although Time and some of the supermarket chains are just starting to get a whiff of the idea, it’s not such a new one, having grown up over the past five years or so as “nebulisation technology” – through which a fragranced oil is converted into a dry vapour.
This has become more commercially viable and useable on a wide scale. Smells can be distributed through a store as simply as with a fan, or via complete integration with an air-conditioning system……