Store sense: Reclaiming the four walls with - Deakin University

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When the listener steps out of the beam, or when the beam is aimed in a different direction, the sound disappears completely. The Intel brand is one of the top ten known-brands in the world, perhaps most recognised for its iconic five-tone ‘Intel inside’ musical jingle composed by Walter Werzowa and first developed as sound branding in 1995. Intel recently developed a display for one of its Australian retailers using a built-in directional speaker to send the recognisable Intel brand sound toward the entrance to the electronics department to focus attention and attract customers to the branded display. Sound doesn’t just need to be utilised inside the store. A surface speaker no larger than a mobile phone can be used to turn a glass surface like a shop window into a speaker to emit sound to passing foot traffic. Telstra have been utilising this technology for the past year as part of their innovative window campaigns, turning 3 metre high panels of glass into large speakers to convey audio messages to support the window’s visual communication. Scent: the most powerful sense of all Our sense of smell is highly developed and like our auditory senses different odours can evoke different moods, perceptions and emotions. Scent has the power to strongly influence people because it has a direct connection to the emotional seat and memory centre of the brain. This has become an increasingly significant research arena. The Sense of Smell Institute in the US for example sponsors research into the diverse impacts and effects that smell can generate with impact and effect distinctions drawn for example between genders and life stages. Scent can be used strategically for many purposes in retail and consumer environments. Increasing numbers of fashion retailers have created a ‘brand-scent’ for example, although established technology enables particular parts of the store and specific products within it to offer diverse olfactory experiences. Scent can be used to attract consumers to specific parts of the store and can prompt strong brand and product recall. Scent can also prompt positive (or negative) associations and memories and can assist in the formation of a stronger bond between retailer and consumer [28] . Scent can also be used overtly to achieve a particular purpose or covertly to change behaviours to the retailer’s advantage without necessarily being noticed by the shopper. Research has shown that scent has the ability to improve people’s mood, make them happier, make them more alert, reduce anxiety and make them more willing to help and get along with others. Used alongside other positive brand experiences such as high product quality and excellent customer service, scent marketing is a win-win situation for both the company and the customer. [29] There are obvious ethical issues in relation to the covert use of scent to change behaviour [30] but the fact remains that many retailers do not optimise store or category scent management. With the average human able to identify over 10,000 individual smells, and with our sense of smell being so vital to our environmental perception, it could be time for retailers to develop their own ‘new car smell’, capitalising on the potential that ‘scent branding’ can offer. 18
Tactics and techniques For retailers and manufacturers looking to attract customers and develop a long-lasting relationship with them, emotion and memory are critical connections and should be some of the top goals of their marketing campaigns and branding efforts. Scent devices have been developed to disburse realistic scents into the air using fans rather than sprays, enabling a more authentic scent experience. Sony for example uses a branded aroma in its SonyStyle electronics departments, aiming to make browsing more appealing to women. Finding the right scent involved months of research by ScentAir, a firm specializing in scents for retailers, with over 30 mixes being prepared for SonyStyle executives to test. In the end, a mix of a full-bodied orange, vanilla with a dash of cedarwood was selected. Why this mix? SonyStyle felt it accomplished the goal of the appealing to women with the orange and vanilla, with the scent of cedarwood adding a degree of masculinity preventing the scent from being perceived as too feminine, and thereby not alienating male shoppers. Lush stores present a strong example of engagement via the sense of smell. The scents emanating from the products displayed provide a strong motivation for shoppers to enter the store, who quite literally ‘follow their nose’. Image 6: Lush, Hong Kong The power of scent is also demonstrated in speciality retail environments, for example bakers, florists and tea and coffee outlets. For retailers who wish to engage shoppers at a deeper emotional level, it is important not to underestimate the power of scent as part of a sensory strategy in attracting customers, increasing dwell time in-store, encouraging sampling and trialling and creating strong brand recall cues. 19
Page 1: Store Sense Reclaiming the four wal
Page 4 and 5: About the authors Danielle Barclay
Page 6 and 7: online retail sales will more than
Page 8 and 9: The youth market - ‘future-proofi
Page 10 and 11: The sensory store As the dawn of th
Page 12 and 13: What is interesting to note from th
Page 14 and 15: Image 3: Tesco’s virtual store Th
Page 16 and 17: In Australia telecommunications ret
Page 20 and 21: Taste: try before you buy Case stud
Page 22 and 23: etailing tools and technologies is
Page 24 and 25: References 1. Soars, B., Driving sa
Page 27: Contact Danielle Barclay General Ma

Store sense: Reclaiming the four walls with - Deakin University

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