We all know supermarkets are expert at luring us with eye-catching
displays of fresh fruit and veg. Asda’s egg aisle even has the sound of
clucking hens. But smells?
Defenceless consumers will now have to cope with Aromagas, ‘a mould-
breaking marketing opportunity for retailers’ from the UK industrial gas
manufacturer BOC.
BOC is offering linen smells for shirt-makers, soapy niffs for chemists
and the pong of leather for furniture showrooms. Apparently the dry
cleaning chain Sketchley has already trailed an alpine whiff, and
Woolies released the smell of mince pies and brandy in its stores last
Christmas.
But it was Anita Roddick who discovered the marketing potential of
smells way back in 1976. In order to lure customers into her first damp-
ridden Brighton store the Body Shop founder sprinkled a 100 yard perfume
trail along the pavement in through the door.
Now, 20 years later The Body Shop has its own ‘corporate smell’, worn by
its staff and sprayed in its 1,400 worldwide stores. Ahh, the sweet
smell of success.
