The Sense of Smell

This chapter analyzes and discusses the sense of smell, which is considered to be strongly associated with both emotional and cognitive reactions in a person. The sense of smell is stimulated unconsciously by fragrances and affects a person's mood either in the positive or negative direction, indicating scents ability to contribute to a sensory experience. Research regarding scents, as sensory stimuli, shows that the introduction of different scents with regard to both the brand and the service environments affect both sales and profitability. Beside the fact that scents are the basis of a hedonic scent perception and affect a person's mood, they also affect a person's cognitive behavior. Scent congruence, turns out to be a significant factor; therefore, consideration should be given to how good or bad a scent is consistent with the actual product. Signature scent refers to the scent that can be associated with a specific brand and used to differentiate and distinguish this in sensory marketing.