Story by: Lauren Heist (Furniture Style)

If you love the smell of success, take a whiff of this: A good smelling store can actually prompt shoppers to spend more.

According to Harald Vogt, Chief Marketer at the Scent Marketing Institute, scientific studies have proven that certain scents will keep people at Las Vegas Casinos longer, and he said retail stores, hotels and other business have begun using scents to build brand awareness and increase sales.

“Scent works for a number of brands that attract significant customer traffic such as airlines, car dealerships or mall retailers, as well as those that want to bond with the consumer on an emotional level,” Vogt says.

Vogt, who will be giving a presentation on the connection between scent and color at the Color Association’s annual Color Symposium, taking place Sept. 25-26 in New York City, says scent can b a powerful tool for any home furnishings retailer.

“Scent changes our perception of the passing of time,” Vogt says. He says when consumers are in a scented environment, they feel as if time moves slower.

“[When] we spend more time in retail, the salespeople have more time to get to us, we look around longer, chances are we buy or we buy more,” he says.

Vogt also says that scent can put us in a positive mood, making us more willing to make impulse purchases. “Scent impacts our perception of the value and quality of a product  (scented toilet paper is perceived softer than the same paper unscented) and we are willing to pay a higher price,” he says.

According to the Scent Marketing Institute’s ScentTrends, certain scents affect shoppers in certain ways. For example, the smell of talcum powder makes people feel safe and nostalgic, while the smell of citrus and peppermint makes them feel alert. When people smell barbecue, they perceive the room that they’re in as being smaller, and apple and cucumber make them assume the room is bigger. The smell of leather and cedar make people want to buy expensive furniture, and the smell of tailored floral and citrus make people want to browse longer and spend more.

But how you incorporate scent into your store is important, Vogt says. Just lighting a few candles or placing a bowl of lemons next to the cash register isn’t going to do the trick.

“Candles are messy and a fire hazard. Perfume will stick on surfaces, in fabrics, on the customers. Air fresheners are not controllable and limited in scent choice and performance. Food smells like — well — food. No good,” he says.

Instead, Vogt recommends investing in a professional scent delivery system that blows air through a scented substance or sprays tiny particles of fragrance oil through the air using the store’s heating and air conditioning system.

Vogt says it costs about $100 to $150 a month to lease a scent delivery system, and each month, you have to refill the bottle of spray. He says smaller stores could also consider leasing a free-standing unit instead of one that works with the air conditioning system.

Vogt says in a small store, the scent should be evenly distributed throughout the store, but in a larger store, it could be used to create “scent islands” to highlight certain products. He also said scents can be blown out the front door to draw people inside.

There is no particular type of scent, however, that’s the best for every store.

Vogt says men and women tend to like different scents, and he said some nationalities will prefer some scents over others, so there is no single scent that appeals to everyone.

No matter what type of scent you choose for your store, Vogt says you don’t want to overdo it.

“If you work in a scented space you become unaware of the scent, you think it is not strong enough and crank up ‘the volume,’ which results in an overpowering effect that will turn customers off,” Vogt says. “Less is more.”