Business · Companies · 1 day ago
Businesses use engineered scents to influence shopping behaviour
Businesses are using carefully designed scents in places such as shops, hotels, casinos and airport lounges to influence how customers feel and behave.
Melbourne-based Air Aroma makes scents for clients around the world and distributes them through buildings’ ventilation systems.
Research cited in the story suggests pleasant ambient scents can make shoppers more interested in products, stay longer and spend more.
Smell is closely linked to emotion and memory, which can make its effects less obvious than visual advertising.
The scent also needs to suit the setting: a smell that feels out of place may work against a business.
Some studies have found that scents can increase sales or gambling revenue, though the results described concern particular settings and experiments.
Businesses are also exploring scent use in offices, including possible effects on employee productivity.
Air Aroma, a Melbourne-based company, creates scents that businesses use to influence customer behaviour.
The scents are discreetly distributed through vents to encourage customers to linger and spend more.
Research cited in the article links ambient scents with increased desire to buy, retail dwell time and spending.
Experts say scent can affect emotion and memory, but it needs to fit the setting.
- Who
- Air Aroma and businesses that use engineered scents.
- What
- Businesses use ambient scents to influence shoppers’ behaviour and encourage spending.
- When
- The article was published on October 10, 2026; its text is dated October 11, 2026.
- Where
- Air Aroma is based in Moorabbin, Melbourne, and supplies scents to businesses in locations around the world.
- Why
- Scents can influence emotion and memory and may encourage customers to linger and spend more.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
the scent that fills your nostrils was engineered in an industrial park in suburban Melbourne.
the scent activates a hedonic response and association of the products and … will motivate
The scent of chocolate chip cookies ... will likely backfire if the retail context is high-end shoes and handbags where the scent of leather would be expected,
scent bypasses our rational thought …
A study by Alan Hirsch found shoppers were 84 per cent more likely to want identical Nike shoes in a floral-scented room.
Hirsch found that adding a pleasant ambient scent to a casino increased gambling revenue by 45 per cent.
A US study found that warm smells such as cinnamon can make a retail environment feel more crowded.
A meta-analysis found that favourable scents can increase shop dwell time and expenditure by up to 23 per cent.
- Company
- Air Aroma
- Headquarters
- Moorabbin, Melbourne
- Global workforce
- More than 100 employees
- Offices
- New York, Tokyo, Amsterdam and Dubai
- Scent and spending
- Favourable scents can increase shop dwell time and expenditure by up to 23 per cent
- Bakery sales
- Studies cited found smell can increase bakery sales by as much as 300 per cent
Sources
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