Experience Retail Environments with (Almost) All Senses

If brick-and-mortar retail were a company stock, most analysts would probably recommend that investors should sell it. Currently, improved online shop systems, faster logistics, and a generation of consumers who spend a significant amount of their time online are all driving the increasing share of online purchases. This also holds for products that managers long assumed would be exclusively sold in stationary retail stores. The consequences are obvious in many cities: Empty city centers and vanishing retail stores increasingly characterize the urban landscape. Despite decades of dead sayings, physical stores are not dead. On the contrary, for example, roughly 90% of retail revenues in Germany are generated in physical stores and major US retailers such as Target and Walmart have announced multi-billion-dollar investments in their physical stores in an effort to improve customer experience and target new markets. One reason that stationary retail is alive and well is that physical stores have an unbeatable advantage over online retail. They can create multisensory experiences by providing consumers with sensory stimulation across their various senses. We provide insights into the latest research findings on sensory marketing relating to vision, sound, and scent as well as their interaction—with some surprising results.