The Sense of Retailing

During my high school freshman year, our general science teacher conducted an experiment to demonstrate the link of the sense of smell to the sense of taste. He blindfolded several students and attached clips to their noses before giving them a deep orange-red liquid to drink. Not one of them could identify the mixture as tomato juice. At the same time, another group of blindfolded students without clips on their noses uniformly recognized the fluid as tomato juice.

(By the way, two other life-lessons from that general science class: To reduce the risk of botulism, never buy a dented can of any food product as even a microscopic hole can let air inside the vacuum seal; to avoid ringworm, make sure your haircutter/stylist uses a new comb straight from a sealed wrapper or one soaked in that omnipresent Barbicide blue solution.)

Getting back to your nose, no doubt you’ve experienced the displeasure of barely tasting a good meal when your nose was stuffed. And we’ve all, for sure, been seduced by the aroma of freshly baked bread, or steaming coffee, or, for those with a sweet tooth, the enticingly sinful scent of Cinnabons wafting through a mall or food court.

Whether it be aromatherapy for a more balanced and harmonious life, or fragrances sprayed throughout stores as part of their atmospherics, like lighting and music to stimulate you to spend more time inside their walls and hopefully spend money, our sense of smell is the target of savvy marketers.

Now that I’ve got you thinking about scents, imagine how you’d react to a second-hand store. You’d probably think in terms of dank, musty odors. Maybe even a little bit of death-warmed-over.

Your olfactory thoughts wouldn’t be too far off; many second-hand store operators think so, as well. That’s behind a decision by Goodwill Industries to incorporate fragrance technology into 44 stores in southeastern Wisconsin and metropolitan Chicago. “Scent is a big part of the store environment and the overall shopping experience, but creating a pleasant scent experience in thrift stores can be a bit more challenging than the norm,” Billie Torrentt, VP stores at Goodwill, said in a story posted on the Chain Store Age Website.

Hints of sweet orange and honeysuckle blended into a signature scent will romance shoppers while they browse the clothing and home goods seeking a second, or greater, chance at utility.


Express Lines: Standing sixth in line at Costco recently with just three items, I thought to myself what the person behind me voiced. “Why doesn’t Costco have an express line for customers with just a handful of products to buy?”

Though I surely sympathized and empathized with her, I couldn’t resist imparting a bit of retailing lore garnered over 30 years. In truth, stores should be catering to those with carts chock full of merchandise rather than those who buy one, two or three items. Those customers are commonly called “cherry-pickers” for their tendency to buy just items on sale while purchasing the bulk of their goods at other stores.

Of course, Costco members pay for the privilege of shopping at the clubs, so they can’t really be called cherry-pickers. But the concept is the same: ‘Tis better to treat your high volume customers royally so your coffers will swell.

Sadly, too many grocers and discount stores put more emphasis on customers with few items than on those with full shopping carts. Sadly, unless you’re among those who have but a few items to buy.


The World Is Changing: Here’s another sign the retailing world, nay, society overall, is changing—Dollar General, a chain that previously targeted few households with incomes beyond the working poor, next month will begin selling merchandise over the Internet.

A company with more than 9,500 stores in 35 states, Dollar General says households making $70,000 or more are its fastest-growing customer segment, according to Internet Retailer.

The action conveys several points about societal changes: Internet access and purchasing have become mainstream, across all income levels. In addition, the stigma of shopping in a Dollar General store is rapidly disappearing for upper middle class families, a trend bound to accelerate given the anonymity of Internet buying from the privacy of your home or office computer.