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This paper aims to examine how olfactory imagery, triggered by scent brand names prior to smelling, influences scented-product purchase intention.

Five studies were conducted. Logistic regression analysis was used to predict likelihood of olfactory imagery formation. ANOVA and t-test analyses were used for scent brand name group comparisons, and serial mediation analysis was used to test how scent brand names impact purchase intention through olfactory imagery vividness and the (dis)confirmation between imagined (i.e. expected) and experienced scents.

Scent name familiarity stimulates olfactory imagery formation. Scent brand name specificity (e.g. “Lavender Bouquet” vs. “Floral Bouquet”) influences purchase intention, with specific names leading to lower purchase intention, because they generate vivid olfactory imagery and induce a disconfirmation between imagined and experienced scents.

Branding scents on products should be a strategic product design decision. Surprisingly, although specific scent brand names trigger vivid olfactory imagery and precise scent expectations, they mitigate purchase intention and thus are riskier. General scent brand names are safer.

This research contributes by extending the literature on the effect of verbal cues on scent perception by considering the role of scent brand name specificity on purchase intent. It also adds to work on how olfactory imagery influences purchase intention by incorporating olfactory imagery vividness. Finally, it proposes and tests an underlying cognitive mechanism to explain the relationship between scent brand names and purchase intention.

This study aims to examine the impact of olfactory cues at the point of purchase on consumers’ purchase behavior in terms of sales.

The theory of semantic congruence and sensory marketing on consumer behavior is tested using data collected through an experiment and analyzed using quantitative methods.

The presence of an olfactory cue has a positive impact on purchase behavior, as measured by product and product-category sales. Results indicate that a more common, category-congruent scent is optimal, as opposed to product-congruent, differentiating scent, even for a single product.

The findings encourage retailers to implement scents at the point of purchase as a sales promotion tool. Targeting a product category, instead of a single product, would seem the most feasible target scope.

This paper studies sensory marketing and cue congruence in a real-life retail setting, measuring the impact in terms of sales, and not only in relation to purchase intentions or brand image. Addressing a precisely defined target that suits retailing, namely, a single product and product category, is also novel, contrasting with earlier studies focused on ambient scents in large environments.

Cultivating customer loyalty is extremely crucial for fast-food players to remain competitive in the industry. This research is discovering the path to cultivate customer loyalty through experience that is built based on auditory, gustatory, haptic, olfactory and visual cues.

Quantitative research has been conducted by distributing survey questionnaires to customers at selected fast-food restaurants in urban areas. The collected data has been analyzed by descriptive and structural equation modeling analysis.

The customers' loyalty to fast food can be cultivated through gustatory, haptic and olfactory cues. However, auditory and visual are not functioning as marketing cues to cultivate customer loyalty.

The fast-food players may emphasize gustatory, haptic and olfactory marketing cues to cultivate customer loyalty. These cues can be shared through experience.

This study has discovered the potential ways to cultivate customer loyalty in dining at fast-food restaurants within the Malaysian market.

Obesity among elderly consumers precipitates undesirable health outcomes. This study aims to investigate the effects of environmental cues on food intake of elderly consumers in an aged-care facility.

A longitudinal study conducted over 17 weeks in situ within an aged-care facility with 31 residents investigated how auditory (soothing music), olfactory (floral-scented candle) and visual (infographic on health benefits of the main meal component) cues influenced food intake quantity during a meal, while accounting for portion size effect (PSE).

Analysing the cross-sectional results of individual treatments and rounds did not reveal any consistent patterns in the influence of the three environmental cues. Longitudinal analyses, however, showed that the presence of auditory and olfactory cues significantly increased food intake, but the visual cue did not. Moreover, PSE was strong.

Extending research into environmental factors from a commercial to a health-care setting, this study demonstrates how the presence of auditory and olfactory, but not cognitive cues, increased food intake behaviour among elderly consumers. It also shows that a cross-sectional approach to such studies would have yielded inconclusive or even misleading findings. Merely serving more would also lead to higher food intake amount.

Environmental factors should be a part of health-care providers’ arsenal to manage obesity. They are practical and relatively inexpensive to implement across different health-care settings. However, the same environmental factors would have opposite desired-effects with normal or underweight residents, and hence, aged-care facilities need to separate the dining experience (or mealtime) of obese and other residents. Quantity served should also be moderated to discourage overeating.

While studies into managing obesity, particularly among older adults, have mainly focused on techniques such as pharmacotherapy treatments with drugs, dietary management or even lifestyle change, less attention has been given to the influence of environmental cues. This study, executed in situ within an aged-care facility, provided evidence of the importance of considering the impact of environmental factors on food intake to help reduce obesity.

Retail stores are required to provide a stimulating in-store experience for customers and do this by developing various strategies. One strategy implemented by retailers is the use of sensory cues to encourage consumers to engage with the environment and the products on display and available for purchase. Conducted in a lighting department, the purpose of this paper is to consider how retailers can employ a multisensory cue, which is formed by combining three single cues to positively impact consumer behaviours – specifically time spent, touching and purchase.

The study comprised an experimental design, which implemented single congruent visual, auditory and olfactory cues that formed a multisensory cue. Consumer behaviour outcomes of these cues were measured using objective measures.

The results show that a multisensory cue impacts time spent and purchasing, but no evidence of it affecting touching was noted. In the case of the single cues, auditory and scent cues impacted time spent, but their effect was not to the extent of the multisensory cue, which was superior.

The study focussed on one product category within a general furnishing store, thus limiting the extent to which the findings can be generalised.

The effect of a multisensory cue exceeded that of single cues, emphasising the need for retailers to consider and develop a multisensory retail environment.

While research into the effect of single cues on consumer behaviours has shown positive effects, research into a multisensory cue, especially in a real-retail setting, is relatively scarce.

This paper aims to examine how multi-sensory cues, when store-congruent, influence consumer browsing behaviour and its subsequent effect on purchasing.

Two studies were used with a field experimental design in a furnishing retail store to examine browsing behaviour and purchasing in a visual, auditory, olfactory and a multi-sensory treatment group. Data were gathered over 12 weeks. This study was a set of studies comprising my dissertation thesis (Helmefalk, 2017).

Findings show that multi-sensory cues in a retail atmosphere are evidently influencing purchasing via browsing behaviour as a mediator.

The findings evidence browsing behaviour as a mediator and predictor for purchasing, which emphasizes its conceptual and empirical contribution in terms of modifying retail atmospheres. The work contributes to the field of retailing, sensory marketing and consumer behaviour, a novel view on the linkages between multi-sensory cues, browsing behaviour and purchasing.

Describes how 48 subjects participated in experiments to investigate the effect of visual cues in identifying odours. The subjects were first instructed to describe the odour of six fruit solutions, four of which were inappropriately coloured. Second, they were presented with a series of fruit solutions which varied in odour and colour intensity and were asked to rank them in order of odour strength. For the control sets, the odour and colour strengths were compatible; in the experimental sets the odour strength and colour intensity were conflicting. The results of the first experiment indicate that the identification of fruit odours proves significantly more difficult when the colour of the solution is inappropriate (p < 0.05) and in the second experiment more subjects rank the solutions in the correct order when the colour intensity and odour strengths are compatible than when they are conflicting. Visual cues are found to influence odour judgements significantly and, when presented with conflicting stimuli, the visual cues appear to override the olfactory sense and distract the subjects from making the correct assessment.

This paper aims to develop an integrative framework based on a convergence of embodiment, ecological and phenomenological theoretical perspectives to explain the multiple processes involved in the consumers’ mining, processing and application of brand-related sensory data through a sensory brand experience (SBE).

This research adopts a qualitative method by using face-to-face in-depth interviews (retail managers and customers) and focus group interviews (actual customers) with 34 respondents to investigate SBEs in the context of Chinese shopping malls.

Results show that the brand data mined through multisensory cues (visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile and taste) in a brand setting are processed internally as SBEs (involving sensory impressions, fun, interesting, extraordinary, comforting, caring, innovative, pleasant, appealing and convenient), which influence key variables in customer–brand relationships including customer satisfaction, brand attachment and customer lovemarks.

This study has implications for current theory on experiential marketing, branding, consumer–brand relationships, consumer psychology and customer experience management.

Customer experience is increasingly recognized as a source of competitive advantage. Customer experience refers to customers' responses and reactions to cues within touchpoints along customer journeys. Nowadays, customers often interact with online touchpoints – such as social media, websites, or e-commerce – in their customer journeys. Given that customer experience is multidimensional, this chapter addresses the following question: How can sensorial experiences be triggered in online touchpoints? Based on a review of the literature on customer experience and sensory marketing, four challenges in triggering sensorial experiences in online touchpoints are identified: (1) limited sensorial cues, (2) lack of thematic congruence between online and offline touchpoints, (3) sensory overload, and (4) lesser control over sensorial cues. Then, two routes through which organizations can trigger sensorial experiences in online touchpoints are proposed: (1) directly influencing sensations through sensory-enabling technologies, and (2) indirectly influencing sensorial perceptions through the use of sensory and nonsensory cues. The chapter closes with a presentation of a model that describes the process of triggering sensorial experiences in online touchpoints as well as a checklist of relevant questions for practitioners who wish to do so.

This study aims to examine the relationship between consumer characteristics and the effectiveness of olfactory cues on purchase behavior.

The theories of the effects of consumer decision-making, olfaction and sensory marketing on purchase behavior are applied using loyalty card data collected through an experiment. These data are analyzed using quantitative methods.

The presence of an olfactory cue has a positive impact on purchase behavior, as measured by product-category sales. Results indicate that in sales promotion, olfactory cues are most efficient in men who have hedonistic or quality-oriented decision-making styles.

This paper is the first to study the effectiveness of olfactory cues on purchase behavior when the interactions between the individual characteristics of consumers are considered. The study broadens extant frameworks of sensory marketing by placing the consumer in the central position as the processor of sensory cues. The work pioneers the integration of consumer’s decision-making style (CDMS) as one of the moderating factors in the process.

The results encourage retailers and practitioners to consider CDMS – and not only gender or age – when using olfactory cues in sales promotions. Hopefully, this paper will inspire retailers to think of the more psychological aspects of consumer behavior and decision-making when planning their loyalty card systems.

This paper is the first to study the effectiveness of olfactory cues on purchase behavior when the interactions between the individual characteristics of consumers are considered. Addressing the decision-making style in addition to demographics is a novel approach, contrasting with earlier studies that merely focused on olfactory acuity.