While many think of jewelry as a simple act of adornment, every embellishment we wear has must stronger emotional factors which range from deep sentimental value to the emotions such jewelery represents in cultural and societal norms.
Every jewelry purchase for personal use or gifting is often inspired by emotional influences including love, happiness, pride, or guilt. It is through this transaction where the customer hopes to convey their desired emotion into a personal and meaningful piece of jewelry. Due to the emotional factors which impact the purchase of jewelry, it is essential that retailers carefully craft a multi-sensory experience including music, fragrance, colours and textures which can ultimately guide the customer’s perception of brand, quality, and provide higher enjoyment of the store experience (Mattila and Wirtz, 2008).
By building a harmonious atmosphere and environment to the store, this can help increase overall sale volumes (Laakso 2004, p.57). Just as gemstones and semi-precious stones embody specific meanings, a signature fragrance acts to translate the retailer’s objectives into a bespoke scent, stirring and emotional response from the customer. A sensual fragrance of Rose, Jasmine, Lily of the Valley, Vanilla, Musk and Sandalwood can conjure feelings of love, comfort and trust – evoking the associated emotions relating to the desire for engagement rings and wedding bands. Due to the deep connection between memory, emotion and sense of smell, diffusing a suitable fragrance in the jewelry retail environment can lead to increased brand loyalty & retention, improved perfection of the brand & service, and reduced perception of time. Jewelry brands with a signature scent such as John Hardy have a competitive advantage and higher chance of being remembered than others as customers will remember a smell with 65% accuracy after 1 year, whereas customers can only recall visuals with 50% accuracy after just 3 months.