Shopping by your nose

Britain's Sunday Times writes about how odors affect the way people shop and spend money. 'Scent Branding' is already being done in the US and is now showing up in UK stores.

Customers in Mothercare, the baby and toddlers’ shop, can smell its distinctive “soft” odour. The Sheraton chain, meanwhile, has begun to perfume the lobbies of all its British hotels with a chemical smelling like fresh fruit.

The development of scent branding, also nicknamed “Muzak for the nose”, follows tests with artificial smells such as baked bread in supermarkets and freshly ironed shirts in the stores of Thomas Pink, the shirtmaker.