Check it Out: A Nose for Retail

At least that's what one retailer is encouraging you to do with its latest campaign. Bloom, a grocery store chain in North and South Carolina, Maryland and Virginia, has put a new twist on the traditional billboard advertisement — broadcasting the scent of a juicy grilling steak to everyone within nose-shot.

Bloom posted the billboard to help generate buzz about a new line of beef available in its stores. Motorists on River Highway in Mooresville, N.C., were greeted
 by the wafting aroma as they drove by.

To reach as broad an audience as possible, the billboard emitted the scent every day from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. It hit rush-hour traffic and gave drivers on their way home from work on empty stomachs quick dinner ideas.

The billboard system was created by ScentAir, a Charlotte, N.C.-based provider of in-store scent delivery solutions for brands and retailers. The steak smell is created using a high-powered fan that blows air over cartridges containing fragrance oil with a blend of black pepper and charcoal grilling smell.

Scent Marketing's Rise
Grocery stores like Bloom aren't the only retailers using scents to market their products to consumers. Apparel retailer Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) uses a woody aroma in its stores — a combination of orange, fir resin and Brazilian rosewood, among others — to help sell clothes. In fact, A&F emits the scent on sidewalks outside its stores to draw in shoppers. A&F even bottled the perfume and now sells it under the name Fierce.

Then there's Thomas Pink, an upscale shirt retailer that scents its stores with "line-dried linen." Or Samsung, which implanted hidden devices in the ceiling of its Upper West Side Manhattan store to pump out a honeydew-like smell. The fragrance, it claims, will seduce consumers into choosing Samsung's products over those of its competitors.

It's estimated that as many as 20 companies worldwide specialize in the ambient scent marketing and dispersion technology space, with businesses valued between $80 million and $100 million. There's even an industry trade group devoted to promoting the benefits, awareness and value of scent marketing — the Scent Marketing Institute.

Does scent marketing work? Like other marketing vehicles — social media comes to mind — measuring its return on investment is difficult, if not impossible. Short of asking a customer straight out, "Did the fresh linen smell of our T-shirt cause you to buy it?" I don't see how retailers can track scent's effect on selling products. There is, of course, the argument that it's all about building a positive brand experience for consumers, and that, in the long run, will equate to more sales.

As a unabashed steak lover, I certainly could be motivated by the smell of grilled steak to make a trip to the grocery store to pick up a T-bone. But will the scent of fresh flowers in a department store make me more likely to buy a shirt? Not as likely. But if the scent connects with me and I enjoy my shopping experience, I'm more likely to go back.

Another drawback, at least for the time being, is scent marketing is limited to brick-and-mortar stores. Imagine how effective the tactic could be for a multichannel retailer like Yankee Candle. Its catalog pages could be scented like its fragrant product offerings, matching its retail stores. Now if someone could just figure out how to transmit scents via computers, retailers would really have something!