Jennifer Dublino puts a compelling research driven case forward for the power of customer experience via the senses and how this essentially human experience can never be replicated in an online or virtual environment.
Bricks and Mortar will endure.
Take a walk down the sensory primed retail lane with the following factoids:
Lighting and colour
The store’s lighting and color have a huge impact on setting the mood and tone of the store environment and can highlight certain products. According to the National Association of Lighting Manufacturers in Spain (ANFALUM)1, warm light will make leather goods look better while cool tones sell jeans and suits. In color, a rule of thumb is to use a neutral color in 80 percent of your store and an accent color in the remaining 20 percent.
Down lights can bring customers’ attention to a particular featured product group, and the proper brightness can make people feel comfortable in the store. The color choice will relate to the brand positioning and the emotion you want to evoke in your customers. For example, yellow and orange tend to be happy colors, while green is calming and blue encourages trust.
Scent
Smell is the most underappreciated of the senses and also one of the most powerful. In the brain, the sense of smell is the only sense processed in the limbic system, the seat of emotion and memory, making scent an excellent tool for branding and marketing. The presence of a pleasant scent directly affects sales by encouraging customers to stay and buy who otherwise might have left empty-handed or with fewer items.
Scent in stores also improves customers’ perceptions of the store and its products.2 Research shows that customers are willing to pay 10 percent to 15 percent more for the same product in a store that is scented compared to the same store without scent. Individual products, too, are perceived as being of higher quality or more suitable for the consumer when the store uses ambient scenting.
While there are no absolutes, there are some fragrances that tend to be associated with emotions. For example, citrus makes people feel happy, lavender and green tea induce calmness, vanilla and amber encourage trust and comfort and florals provide a romantic or exotic air.
Touch
Research has shown that when customers touch the merchandise, they are able to picture themselves owning the item and are more likely to buy it.3 To this end, stores should consider using wood, rather than metal or laminate tables, to display their wares. Wood tables encourage shoppers to touch the merchandise, increasing the likelihood of purchase. In designing stores, retailers should be careful to provide aisles that are wide enough that customers will not have to step back and touch the shelf or display on the other side; research has shown that shoppers get irritated if touched from behind.
Music
The type and tempo of music affects the speed with which customers navigate your store and how long they stay.4 Music has also been shown to reduce customers’ perception of wait times, which is particularly useful during high-traffic shopping times. Music can also set the mood (i.e. island music in a swimsuit store or Christmas music around the holidays) and tie in with the store’s brand positioning.5
Sensory marketing can be used in any retail environment, from big box stores to department stores to branded specialty retailers. Retailers as diverse as Jimmy Choo, Bloomingdale’s and Goodwill use sensory marketing to boost sales and distinguish themselves from competitors, online and off. If you want your store to survive and thrive in this period of change, make sure you provide a superior customer sensory experience that will make your cash registers ring.
1″Sensory Marketing at Matelec 2012: Effective Lighting in Shops Increases Competitiveness and Reduces Costs”
2“The Effect of Ambient Scents on Consumer Responses: Consumer Type and His Accompaniment State as Moderating Variables”, by Rym Bouzaabiam, International Journal of Marketing Studies, October 2.2013
3″Please Touch the Merchandise” by Lawrence Williams and Joshua Ackerman, Harvard Business Review Forum, The Future of Retail, December 15, 2011
4″Sensory marketing: Research on the sensuality of products” by Aradhna Krishna, 2010.
5″Sound and Consumer Buying Behaviour: Do Apparel Retailers Take Note of the Effect of Sound on Buying Behaviour” By C.E. Nell and M.C. Cant, Corporate Ownership & Control, Volume 11, Issue 1, 2013
Written by Jennifer Dublino, vice president of development for ScentWorld Events, LLC
Read the full piece here > http://apparel.edgl.com/case-studies/Sensory-Retail-Marketing-Strategies-Center-on-the-Customer-Experience91724?googleid=91724
