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Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study was to determine how the use of ambient scent, or an atmospheric odour would affect consumer behaviour. The use of aromas as a marketing tool has been significantly understudied and neglected; up to this point, the emphasis has been placed on more apparent stimuli such as noise, temperature, light, colour etc. While there has been some study on environmental fragrances, they mainly focused on hospitals and other industries. Ambient scent in the retail space makes for an exciting research topic because it allows marketers to tailor the experience of consumers using all their senses allowing them to have a truly immersive shopping experience. The study chose to assess how the use of pleasant ambient scents affect consumer evaluations of distinct brands, and how their attention and memory of the brands differed compared to an unscented environment. The focus geared towards attention, being time spent evaluating the brands and whether the subjects rated the brands more highly in the pleasantly scented environment.

Relevant Previous Research

Prior research suggests that the sense of smell, classified as a chemical sense is a like a gatekeeper. As the scent enters the nostrils, it communicates to the rest of the body whether the stimuli should be approached or avoided depending on if the aroma is pleasant or unpleasant. Studies have coined this phenomenon as the approach-avoidance behaviour where approach behaviour urges one to explore, communicate and remain content in a certain environment. On the other hand, the avoidance behaviour causes one to detract, and essentially be unproductive in the environment. Marketers have seen this concept play out in their retail stores. Pleasant fragrances caused consumers to spend more time in retail stores, and they enjoyed both the shopping environment and the products on display; the aroma created an inviting atmosphere and, in some cases, increased the mood of the subjects.

Main Theories Used in the Study

There were several theories used which shaped the four main hypotheses and the framework for the study. Would subjects rate brands higher in the pleasantly scented environment than the unscented? Would consumers take more time evaluating the brands in the scented environment when compared to the unscented? These are some questions that were investigated in the study. Additionally, we further examine how the results vary between familiar and unfamiliar brands. The consensus was that consumers would already have preconceived notions about familiar brands so that their rating in the pleasantly scented environment may not differ than that of the unscented. However, in the pleasantly scented atmosphere, or the approach environment, it was expected that consumers would take more time to analyze the new and seemingly unfamiliar brand. The idea behind this theory is that the approach environment stimulates the desire to explore. The anticipated outcome is increased exploration, increased attention to unfamiliar stimuli resulting in better learning and stronger associations, and long-term retention (Morrin & Ratneshwar, 2000). Therefore, subjects are expected recall their findings with an increased accuracy in the pleasantly scented environment. The theories mentioned above formed the following hypotheses tested in the study:

H1: Subjects in a pleasantly scented environment will rate brands (especially unfamiliar brands) more favorably than will subjects in an unscented environment.

H2: Subjects in a pleasantly scented environment will pay more attention to brands (especially unfamiliar brands) than will subjects in an unscented environment.

H3a: Subjects in a pleasantly scented environment will exhibit higher recall of brands (especially unfamiliar brands) than will subjects in an unscented environment.

H3b: Subjects in a pleasantly scented environment will exhibit more accurate recognition of brands (especially unfamiliar brands) than will subjects in an unscented environment.

Sample

The sample consisted of fifty undergraduate business students who are attendees of a private university; the students partook in the study to earn extra credit in their introductory marketing course, so they were unaware of the type of research being conducted. The study was set up with 26 students randomly assigned to the pleasantly scented room and 24 students in the unscented room. Students in each room were presented with the same brand stimuli, both familiar and unfamiliar.

Method of Collecting Data

The study was very detailed in that it examined the independent variables, including scent and the brand names, and the dependant variables such as pleasantness, arousal, and dominance using the standard Mehrabian and Russell (1974) three-factor PAD scale (Morrin & Ratneshwar, 2000). Due diligence was carried out to narrow down the scent used in the pleasant environment; a preliminary test was done to pinpoint the scent that was most desirable to the sample group. 84 brand names were selected as part of the study. 42 of these brands were used in the first phase of the study and the other 42 brands were added as a distractor in the recognition phase of the experiment. Of the 42 target brands, 34 were classified as popular and familiar to the subjects, while 8 counterfeit brands were unknown and unfamiliar. To develop the list of familiar brands, names were chosen from a list of the top 2,000 brands in the cosmetics/toiletries and household products/supplies categories in the United States. The unfamiliar brand names were selected from the Kucera and Francis (1967) lexicon. These unfamiliar brand names were essentially low frequency English words that most people do not know. At the initial phase of the study, seated at a computer in a laboratory setting in either the unscented or pleasantly scented environment, the students were asked to rate the 42 target brands at their own pace. One by one, as the students rated each brand, the computer captured the time spent in each rating. After completing this phase, and other irrelevant activities used to clear their memory, the subjects moved onto the second phase designed to evaluate their recollection of their brands they rated in the first phase. In this phase, one by one, the students were shown the initial 42 target brands as well as the 42 distractor brands in a random order. They were tasked with determine if the brands shown were included in the brands in initial phase of the experiment. To evaluate the speed and accuracy of their answers the students were given five minutes to get as many correct responses as possible. A correct response yielded a high beep sound while in the case of an incorrect response, a low beep sound was played. This urged the students to take enough time to ensure they attempt to answer correctly. This phase concluded the experiment and student completed a brief questionnaire at the end.

Major Findings and Concluding Thoughts

The major conclusions drawn from the study were consistent with the main theories and the hypotheses set out. The study found that brand ratings for unfamiliar brands improved by one point on the nine-point scale in the pleasantly scented environment when compared to the unscented (Morrin & Ratneshwar, 2000). The familiar brands however were rated relatively the same in both environments. Additionally, the results support the second hypothesis; subjects spent more time rating the unfamiliar brands in the pleasantly scented environment. That is, the subjects paid more attention to these brands in the pleasantly scented room which in turn increased their recollection. We saw an increased ability to recall unfamiliar brands in the scented room. However, the test for recognition accuracy failed to support the hypothesis.

To summarize, the research revealed that within an environment with a pleasant aroma, subjects pay an increased attention to unfamiliar stimuli. This increased attention causes subjects to process the stimuli in detail and commit more information to memory. The subjects can later recall using trace-dependent retrieval, i.e., they can access the stored information in the absence of external contextual cues (Morrin & Ratneshwar, 2000). It is important to note that the pleasantly scented environment had little to no effect on the attention, evaluation, and memory of the familiar brands. That is, we cannot expect to alter the existing evaluation of familiar products using ambient scents. Rather, if we focus on new stimuli, we can really score high with consumers.

I found this to be a very interesting study because I never expected an atmospheric scent to affect consumer behaviour. Whenever I visit the mall, I dont even notice a specific aroma when I visit my favourite stores. Its fascinating how marketers can choose inject scents into their retail outlets, and in turn cause consumers to pay more attention to their products. Coupled with lighting, temperature, colours, and music marketers can truly capitalize on all the consumers sense, increasing their chance of creating the sale.