Whiff Warp & Woof of Store Signature Sales

According to NRF Stores, the best-selling men’s fragrance in the U.S. is named Fierce. It blends the scents of orange, fir, rosewood, and resin. Can you imagine the odor?
     Okay, I’ll help. Fierce is the fragrance shoppers encounter whenever they enter, or even approach, a flagship Abercrombie & Fitch store. A&F is making money by selling to consumers the smell the consumers associate with pleasant experiences in the store.
     Cracker Barrel shops—each an exquisite blend of restaurant and gift store—sells CDs of the music playing in the background. The customer can take away the sounds they associate with pleasant times in the shop.
     The warp & woof—the fundamentals—of selling store signatures like smells and sounds are the rules of classical conditioning.
     I admit it sidesteps the dignity of your customers to consider them as experimental animals like Pavlov’s dog. You do remember Ivan Pavlov and how when he paired the sound of a bell with feeding a dog, pretty soon the bell caused the dog to salivate? That‘s classical conditioning.

• It works best when the shopper is not already familiar with the same smells or sounds from other stores. They associate the sensations with you. Cracker Barrel, Starbucks, Walmart, and Target each arranged in the past to sell house brand special edition CDs which included tracks not available elsewhere. However, realize that uniqueness is not essential. United Airlines for a time used “Rhapsody in Blue,” one of the more familiar melodies to the adult American ear, as a classical conditioning stimulus.
• The effect is strongest when you present the fragrance or the music early in the shopping trip and then give the shopper a pleasant time worth remembering. Here, too, exceptions to the ideal sequence still do work.
• After both the experience of the smell or sound and the pleasant experience of the shopping itself, prominently remind the shopper of the availability of the items to buy. Put the cologne on the cash/wrap and tell shoppers it’s what they’re smelling. Have signage reading, “The music you’re hearing now is available for purchase.” Coach staff to watch for customers who show interest in the music, and when the interest is there, to say, “Thank you for shopping with us. Would you like to take a look at the CD containing the music you’re hearing play now? Or find out how to download it onto your player?”

Click below for more:
Play and Sell Store Theme Music
Condition Your Customers