Ring Around the Sun

Some of us can smell a good bargain from the other side of the store, to others, shopping is a rational, well thought out process. Very few of us are aware that many stores actually try to manipulate our sense of ‘rational’ by visual, audible and, now olfactory cues. In addition to soothing music, attractive lighting and changing room mirrors that make you look ten pounds lighter, many retailers have been experimenting with smell in the hope that it may make you loosen your grip on your wallet. New Scientist reports:

Exactly how scent exerts its effects is only beginning to be understood. When odour information travels from the olfactory bulb and reaches the primary olfactory cortex it activates the limbic system at an earlier stage of processing than do the other senses, says Pamela Dalton, who studies cognitive and sensory psychology at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This triggers an almost instantaneous emotional response in mammals. It is this initial reaction that marketeers hope to exploit by using scent in products or stores.

The articles includes a chart that details the emotional responses to various smells. The smell of Melon, somehow, is associated worldwide with happiness and youth. No surprise that Samsung uses a subtle melon fragrance in its stores. Target audience: the young impressionable buyer of cellphones and sundry electronic goods.

So next time you ‘really’ like something at the store and cannot explain why…it may be your nose. Note: No one ever   forgets what a new car smells like. Car sales people are eager to get you to take a test drive… because the moment the  smell hits your nose, your ability for rational thought falls by a few points.