Researchers test smells that make customers shop more

We know lighting and music can entice shoppers to get out their wallets, but Melbourne researchers have found the strange smells that make customers more likely to buy.

Wally Pleascence, 26, with some sales-boosting melons. Picture: Tim Carrafa

A strong whiff of melon is enough to make shoppers stay longer and buy more in supermarkets, a new study has found.

It even puts hurried shoppers in a much more positive frame of mind.

While background music, lighting and decoration have long been accepted as mood enhancers, less is known about scents.

Lead researcher Mark Leenders from RMIT University and his team tested the impact of the intensity of a melon scent in a supermarket in the Netherlands, according to the behaviour of 100 shoppers.

They found that when the melon scent was at its highest intensity, 43 per cent of shoppers made an unintended purchase, increasing store revenue by 14 per cent.

The smell of melon has been found to make shoppers more positive, helping them stay longer and buy more in supermarkets. Picture: Thinkstock

When the scent was at a medium level, 33 per cent of shoppers unintentionally bought something and 30 per cent did so when it was at low levels.

“Shoppers from periods of high-intensity scent diffusion also had more positive things to say about the store and its products than those who visited during mid-intensity or low-intensity periods,” Professor Leenders said.

“Interestingly, we also confirmed prior studies that suggested that scent affects consumers’ perception of time: at the highest intensity level, shoppers often underestimated their time in the store, while at the lowest level they over-estimated the length of their visit,” he said.

“Shoppers spent 30 per cent more time in the store when the scent was strong compared to shoppers in a no-scent period. They also thought they had spent less time,” Professor Leenders said in an article in the Rotterdam School of Management journal from Erasmus University.

The study also showed that the scent had a bigger impact on shoppers in a hurry, leading to a “dramatic improvement” in their moods.

Even less hurried shoppers lingered longer in the store when the melon scent was strongest, suggesting that scent still affects people who are already in good humour.

The study also included referenced how clothing and home decoration stores, shopping malls, dance clubs and classrooms could benefit from certain smells.

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Scott Kinnear, owner of Fitzroy’s Organic Wholefoods, said customers had “many, many times over the years” remarked that the store smelt great.

“I’m not sure what it is — the fresh produce, fresh bread, our bulk foods in dispensers or maybe it could be a combination of them all,” he said.

“I’ve been aware for a long time that colour, texture and freshness in your smells in displays are really important in attracting people.

“I’ve never really thought about smell, but it does make sense.”

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