Sensory marketing in a stationary store

The senses influence buying decisions. This fact is used by sensory marketing, which by affecting the senses of customers, helps store owners and brands increase sales.

A lot of valuable knowledge in the field of sensory marketing was brought by research conducted in 2019 by Walnut Unlimited – a global market research agency specializing in neurobiology, behavioral psychology and economics. According to the report, as many as 78 percent of customers around the world indicate a pleasant atmosphere in the store as a key factor in choosing a brick-and-mortar over an online shop. The opportunity to touch, feel and try different products or services is mentioned as the greatest incentive to buy a product in a traditional shop. A skilfully combined musical, visual and scent stimuli can significantly extend the time spent in the store – 9 out of 10 surveyed consumers decided to return to the store because the combination of these three elements took their fancy.

Can we somehow rank the five human senses – sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch – in terms of their importance in sensory marketing? Through which of them can we reach the customer in the easiest way?

Music as a tool for creating customer experience in a stationary store

According to the already mentioned Walnut Unlimited report, music is the number 1 factor when it comes to customer mood in a brick-and-mortar store. It has a positive impact on 85 percent of the shoppers around the world. However, the choice of music is extremely important – if it is inappropriate, the customer may abandon the brand or the store.

It is with the help of music that sellers can create the right atmosphere in the store, influence the emotions of the customer, make that he stays in the store longer, spends more money and remembers the place.

Music is important no matter of the store speciality. 74% of clothing store customers remember that they have been listening to music with pleasure when browsing the sales section. 1 in 2 buyers admit that they enjoyed listening to music in a drugstore. Half of the customers also remember listening to music during shopping in groceries.

The role of visual content in a sensory marketing

Visual stimuli in sensory marketing seem to be equally important. 58% of consumers say attention-grabbing video can have a positive impact on their purchases.

54% of shoppers form Generation Z confirm that they learned about the product or promotion from the screens in the store. 25% of customers in pharmacies around the world say they have stayed longer there because of the attention-grabbing content displayed on the screens.

Let’s not forget about another sense – the smell. The same report shows that, according to half of global consumers, a nice-smelling place can “improve the mood”.

When establishing a sensory marketing strategy, you should plan the stimuli affecting all five human senses. By satisfying all the senses, the positive perception of a given brand or store increases, which can result in increase in profits of the store owners, as well as satisfaction coming from meeting customer requirements and expectations.