Scents, sights and sounds draw customers into retail stores
Offering great products and services is sometimes not enough for retailers to keep consumers coming into their brick-and-mortar locations. Some merchants are turning to elements that appeal to shoppers' senses in the form of special scents, displays and music to increase satisfaction and boost store revenues.
According to Retail Customer Experience, a recent study by Washington State University revealed that businesses saw success when they played music that matched their customer bases and paired the sounds with smells and displays that appealed to ideal shoppers. However, for retailers considering this strategy, they may want to avoid incorporating elements that are not relevant with each other. In addition, faster, more uptmepo tunes may not always work best in stores, as slower music can encourage consumers to spend more time browsing, the source notes.
The Register-Guard reports that several merchants in the Durham, North Carolina, region used holiday-themed scents and songs to draw more customers in throughout the gift-buying season. One example is Morgan Imports, which decorated fir trees throughout its store and played a variety of tunes to get shoppers in the holiday spirit.
