Smell of good marketing: How retail brands are using scent to create unique identities

“People often associate a good feeling about a store, its people and merchandise with the right scent in the air. It helps to create an instant emotional connection with the customer and make the shopping experience a more memorable one,” says Timmy Sarna, MD, DLF Brands, even as malls and retail outlets around the country continue to hum with bright lights, the buzz of milling crowds, and yes, a bouquet of smells, something that business owners will continue with for the rest of the festive season.

It is this idea of building an emotional connect with customers through scent that made the real estate giant tie up with Kannauj-based Indian Naturals, a perfumery with a pedigree dating back to 1880, to create a signature fragrance for its chain of Pure Home + Living.

“The company has a very clear vision on branding and customer experience. Scent marketing has helped Pure Home + Living connect with their customers in a unique way. The great scent adds a unique and special familiarity to our surroundings,” says Sarna, adding, “Pure Home + Living being a design centric brand, scent has acted as a three dimensional tool and has helped to holistically tie the elements together and infuse soul into the stores in a meaningful way.”

Pranav Kapoor, the sixth generation perfumer running Indian Naturals, says that as consumers return to retail spaces with increasing confidence (and fewer masks as vaccination rates rise), brands, from décor to dining to destinations are eager to entice those looking to spend disposable incomes after more than a year indoors. “Scent is one of the most powerful memory markers, because it gives us an instant recall to a place, be it a store or a destination. And consumer-driven businesses are increasingly coming to realise that great individual fragrances make for great brand recall.”

While Indian perfumers have been famed for their ittars, essential oils and base perfumes for millennia, scent-makers both new and old are seeing an increasing demand for customised scents, be it for individuals, as being done by new businesses like One-Of-A-Kind, or entire bouquets for brands by legacy perfumers.

“Every kind of business wants to set themselves apart in an increasingly crowded market, and so from lifestyle retailers to restaurants, scents are a great way to make an impression and retain brand association. For instance, dining scents are tailored for hospitality, as part of interior design for both stand-alone and hotel restaurants and bars,” notes Kapoor, his company having recently created customised fragrances for Roseate hotels. Other dining and luxury brands are in the pipeline, including an association with one of the country’s largest travel companies, which will be using perfumes in a never-seen-before way, with a soon-to-be-announced campaign.

For Zorawar Kalra of Massive Restaurants, whose F&B empire extends beyond the boundaries of India in both outlets and cuisines, good scent has its own SOP. “Restaurants will have many different people coming in, offering different dishes and drinks, and you don’t want all those fumes becoming into smells. We always keep our outlets fresh smelling, especially at the entrances, and we use essential oils in the dining area and automatic-scent dispensers inside the facilities.”

And while signature scents may be a tall order, especially for still upcoming brands, there are more generalised, but still newer olfactory options, including for homes, as more people step out and visit friends and family. This Diwali Mysore Deep Perfumery House has launched Aromix - 'Fusion Incense Sticks, a dual-fragrance range. “We are happy that the buzz in the market is back and footfalls at retail counters are increasing. Aromix is a next level of innovation as far as the humble agarbatti is concerned. We believe the demand will grow during this Diwali as agarbatti consumption increases by about 40-50 per cent during this time when the nation celebrates and prays together by large," shares Anshul Agrawal, Director, Mysore Deep Perfumery House.

As Sarna concludes, “The fragrance we chose (Honey Suckle from Indian Naturals) has become the touchstone of our brand and stands on its own. When customers smell our fragrance, they immediately think of us —taking our brand to a new level of familiarity with customers.”