In BBC program Secrets of the sales, Cherry Healey learns how major high street retailers use scent to influence sales. Good to see the power of scent being recognised by mass media, shame the implication underlying the program was of manipulation, rather than sound retailing practice.
Sniff Test: Step 1 get a group to assess quality and price of a pair of trainers. Step 2 add scent and get a second test group to assess quality and price of the same pair of trainers.
Result: the same pair of trainers were assessed by Group 1 as 'cheap, maybe £20-30' and Group 2 (in scented environment) as 'quite nice, quite expensive, maybe £90'. A pretty compelling argument for retailers to consider.
Guess it's just as well the scent wasn't Eau de Fromage.