Having been discussed in approximately 81 academic studies in last decades and in 28 only during 2007-2012 ( (Raz, Piper, Nicod, Dusart, & Giboreau, 2008), (Yoon & Park, 2012), (Cayot, 2007)), the topic of sensory marketing and its implication are of great importance in the academic field (Krishna A. , 2012).
Krishna defines sensory marketing as “marketing that engages the consumers’ senses and affects their perception, judgment and behavior”. In other words, this particular type of marketing makes use of consumers’ inherited senses: sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing, creating marketing campaigns that involves at least one of the above mentioned senses. The purpose is to create subconscious triggers that associate abstract notions to that specific product (e.g., luxury, trustworthiness, desire, prestige) (Krishna A. , 2012).
In practice various brands have adopted sensory marketing strategies: the chocolate manufacture Lindt- encouraging their consumers to indulge all their senses when serving this sweet treat, hotel chains -signature smells (e.g., Radisson Blu, AC Hotel by Marriott, Westin), clothing stores-signature smells ( e.g., Abercrombie and Fitch, Giorgio Armani, Benetton, H&M, Victoria’s Secret ).
Researchers have proved that smell is a very particular sense as people have a high capability and capacity to memorize (Engen, 1973), (Zucco, 2003) and associate smells with particular places or products (Krishna, Lwin, & Morrin, 2010). A rather common practice is to utilize ambient scent (e.g., hotel chains, retail shops, restaurants) in order to settle the place and brand into customers memory (Morrin, 2003). Other authors suggest ambient odor implications also in terms of product assessment and choice (Mitchell, Kahn, & Knasko, 1995). In a 2016 study the relationship between scent intensity and shoppers mood have been discussed. The results of this study emphasis the indirect relationship between scent intensity and evaluation of time spent in the shop, concluding that shoppers overestimate when lower intensity scent is diffused in the shop and underestimate it when high intensity scent is used (Leenders, Smidts, & ElHaji, 2016).
Another highly impacting sensory marketing used sense is hearing. Either is a brand jingle (e.g., Nokia ringtone, Microsoft Windows system sounds) or ambient music, subconsciously people associate particular sounds with particular brands (Krishna A. , 2012). Not only the sounds itself but it’s language, pace or style have various implications when it comes to consumer behavior. For bilingual people for instance hearing English ads in countries such as Japan, Korea, India or Germany resonate with attributes similarly to modern, progress or cosmopolitan identity (Bhatia, 2000) (Piller, 2003), while ads transmitted in their primary language resonate with belongingness.
Other papers focused on how sound (in relation to other stimulus or not) have an impact on consumers mood, time spend in the shop, impulsive buying and overall spending (Spendrup, Hunter, & Isgren, 2016), (de Wijk, 2018). Spendrup, Hunter and Isgren have conducted a study in an organic store using nature related sounds and they demonstrated a positive impact in terms of spending. Men bought increasingly more bio products when being exposed to that specific sound (Spendrup, Hunter, & Isgren, 2016). The positive relationship between sensory stimulus, with increased accent on in-store music, and spending has been proven in other studies as well (Morrison & al, 2011), (Roschk & al, 2016). None the less, when disturbing, in-store music is played (e.g., too loud or too dynamic) this can create negative effects as well. This assumption was tested and proven by (Milliman, 1982, 1986). Moreover, sound has a tight connection when perceiving some particular food items (e.g., potatoes chips, crackers, vegetables) as providing an authentic sound creates the image of a fresh, good quality product (Zampini, 2005).
Comprehensive studies have discussed the importance of taste in the sensory marketing field as well. Multiple authors agree that taste cannot be regarded alone but in connection with other senses (sight, smell, sound, touch) (Leclerc, Schmitt, & & Dubé, 1994), (Krishna A. , 2012), (Elder & Krishna, 2010). In a 2007 study the authors demonstrated that relationship between juice color (intensity) and the perceived quality, taste (Hoegg & Alba, 2007).
In both practice and theory, the sense of vision has been highly discussed and utilize. Various studies emphasizing the impact of visual effects and stimulus on product proportions assessment (Meyers-Levy & Zhu, 2007), information processing (Raghubir & Greenleaf, 2006), consumer gaze hits (Rumpf, Boronczyk, & Breuer, 2019), visual merchandising (Kleinová & al, 2015), etc.
In practice visual merchandising has extended understandings varying from the way of displaying the products – individually displayed items (e.g., Everlane, Axel Arigato, Gross Concept Store, 24 Kilates), using color schemes (e.g., Papersmiths, BbyB Chocolate Store), having plants displayed alongside products (e.g., The White Company, the Wedgwood Conservatory, de Balconie) or using abstract store design concept (e.g., Dover Street Market, Made Showroom, Bungalow 8) (Trotter, 2017).
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