From the Store to the Kitchen: The Effects of an Ambient Situated Health Food Scent on Healthy Food Choices: An Abstract

Retailers today are in a pivotal position to help reduce rising obesity rates. As the choice architects, retail managers and retail designers can shape the retail food space to better assist the shopper. Until recently, there has been little evidence to suggest how retailers could use ambient scents to influence the purchase and selection of healthier foods (i.e., Biswas and Szocs 2018; Lefebvre and Biswas 2019). However, to extend recent research, we suggest that an ambient situated health food scent (e.g., herb scent) in a retail food setting, that is non-consciously and subtly perceived, can also nudge shoppers to purchase healthier foods.

Against the backdrop of nudging and congruency theory, the present research reveals that an ambient situated health food scent can act as a reminder or a prompt for shoppers to purchase healthier foods. We first identify, through an observation study and a pre-test, an ambient food scent that is typically present in more healthy food environments and also associated with healthier foods. We next demonstrate in a laboratory setting via a virtual supermarket, that a situated health food scent can drive purchase of a healthier basket of goods. We then question whether this can be applied in a real-world context to influence real shopper food choices. We find that in retail food stores, the scent can both increase the number of healthier items and decrease the number of less healthy items sold.

Across the three multi-method studies, we advance previous research beyond cross modal influences such as sensory compensation (i.e., Biswas and Szocs 2018), and innate physiological responses (i.e., Lefebvre and Biswas 2019), to include a congruency perspective. We also show this effect in both virtual and physical retail food environments, this being key to the future of retail. From a practical standpoint, this research has important implications for policy makers, health professionals, retailer managers, and retail designers wanting to improve public health. By implementing such strategies, retailers can achieve corporate social responsibility outcomes, as well as increase profits by targeting fresh food departments.