How Store Atmosphere Can Transform Your Retail Business

Ever wondered why some customers barely spend a couple of minutes at your store without spending a single penny?

It could be an unpleasant customer experience or they are not interested in your brand anymore

Let’s not jump into conclusions. The store atmosphere isn’t only about the design, lights, or catchy furniture.  To provide a truly appealing customer experience you need to go beyond the five senses of your customers whenever possible, providing the right temperature, humidity, and smell to make your customers absolutely happy and coming back for more.

There’s more to customer satisfaction than customer service. It is a store atmosphere that makes a difference; here are a number of key reasons why:

Create an atmosphere that makes customers cherish your brand

Providing an exceptional experience to your customers has now become a key factor in distinguishing businesses that truly care for their customers. As a retail business looking for distinction, you need to trigger customers’ sentiments with the right smell, temperature, and humidity in order to make them happy whenever they interact with your business. You need to give your brand a “personality” that is well recognized and cherished by customers.

Decrease perceived wait time

When customers feel comfortable, they are less aware of the waiting time. Create nice atmospheric conditions such as pleasant aromas, the right temperature, visual digital displays or soft music, and you will lessen the perceived waiting time of your customers even further while keeping them entertained.

Stimulate your customers’ purchase intention

Studies have shown that store atmospherics is one of the leading factors determining the customer’s buying behavior. Pleasant conditions make your customers happy, wander around your store and do unintended purchases, which leads to more revenue.

Optimize staff productivity

Store ambiance has a direct impact on your employees as same as your customers. The right atmosphere makes your employees comfortable, focus more on their tasks, and serve customers with a smile. It is a win-win situation for you and your customers.

So how can you transform the store atmosphere to pleasant customer experience

As retail businesses realize the value of in-store environment to the customer experience, many grasp the importance of Smell, Temperature, and Humidity:

Distinguish your brand with a memorable nice smell

It is proven that smell can affect the purchase intention of customers and whether they will become loyal to your business or not

The research revealed that our sense of smell is believed to be our most emotional sense. Smell triggers certain feelings in us, which in turn influences our behavior. For example, the smell of “coffee” in a store gives customers the feeling of wakefulness, which stimulates them to buy more.

Scents have also been shown to persuade customers to stay in retail stores longer, improve their sense of quality, and create a warm feeling of familiarity.

The Right Temperature Makes a Difference

The more comfortably warm your customers are, the more likely they will value their experience

A very hot or cold store temperature will make customers almost immediately want to walk out. You need to provide the right atmosphere that makes the customer journey enjoyable. The more your customers value their experience, the more they will come back for more.

 Sometimes it’s not simply a matter of “hot or cold”. Humidity  counts

One of the important elements of the atmosphere that are often overlooked is humidity. Inside stores with high humidity, customers will not only feel uncomfortable, but some of them might be harmed, especially people with certain health conditions such as asthma. Creating an ideal humidity makes your customers more comfortable to stay and shop.

Deliver a branded experience that your customers will never forget

SEDCO can help you walk this extra mile to provide an exceptional customer experience. With its Scent and Temperature Device - a part of its CEM platform- you can control your in-store atmosphere to ensure a convenient customer journey and an unforgettable experience. 

Enabled by smart IoT (Internet of things) technology, it allows you to monitor smell, temperature, and humidity inside your stores. You can adjust your atmospheric conditions based on the number of customers or time of day.

Your customers will feel relaxed and happy, which makes them stay longer at your stores, stimulate their buying decisions and spread good word of mouth about your brand. This translates to a positive brand image and more revenue.