When you walk into a Country Road store, you’ll see similar seasonal fashion and brand styling in every shop right across the country.
But have you ever noticed the subtle scent of fresh linen and figs in each Country Road shop, no matter where you are.
It’s because Country Road has developed its own signature scent that smells distinctly like linen and figs that is distilled into stores across Australia and New Zealand.
The Country Road scent has become so popular with its customers that the brand has rolled out beauty and other products with the standout smell.
Scent marketing is not a new phenomenon, having been used in hotels and other commercial settings for years, but retailers are using it in more and more creative ways.
Country Road has designed its own signature scent and customers can’t get enough of it. Picture: Country Road/LinkedIn
Country Road designed the fragrance with scent marketing company Scent Australia to try and make every store visit a memorable one and reinforce the brand.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Malls of the Future summit in Melbourne on Wednesday, Scent Australia chief executive Con Xanthopoulos told Realcommercial.com.au that scent marketing was gaining in popularity.
“We’ve worked with major retail brands like Country Road, Nude Lucy and Stylerunner, as well as hotels, gyms and more,” he said.
“Scents can distinguish brands from everybody else because our sense of smell is an important sense.
“The Country Road scent is popular and we get a lot of enquiries directly from their customers who want the scent, but we can’t sell it to them, only Country Road can.”
Other businesses have designed multiple signature smells to feature in different parts of their stores.
Nude Lucy worked with Scent Australia to design their own unique scent as well. Picture: Scent Australia
He said he had worked with a department store business which had different fragrances for their front entrance, women’s fashion, men’s fashion, homewares and even kid’s fashion sections.
They have designed the scents to complement the fit-outs and music to create memorable experiences, whether you realise or not.
Mr Xanthopoulos said the arrival of artificial intelligence (AI) could have big implications for the future of scent marketing, too.
“The beauty of where we are heading is that we are going to get more live in-store data and may be able to adapt the scent marketing to the real-time conditions,” he said.
“We might be able to modify a mood or a situation depending on what’s going on.
“For example, say if there is horrible weather, then the store might be able to make the scent, music and lighting more uplifting for a better customer experience.
“We’re not quite there yet, but that’s where we are going.”
Brian Clark
