Sensory appeal makes a big difference in supermarkets – maintains retail experts YRC

YRC, a retail consulting firm, discusses how sensory appeal influences customer experience in Middle Eastern supermarkets.

PUNE, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA, May 14, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- In this communiqué, retail consulting enterprise YRC shares an insight perspective on the role of sensory appeal in shaping customer experience in supermarkets with an emphasis on the Middle East market.

A good smell can cause someone to find its source. When the source is seen or estimated and it turns out to be attractive, the natural inclination is to visit that place or go near it. What if what is emitting the good smell could be touched? If it is a food product, it might also be tasted. This is the influence of sensory appeal. It started with a good smell and ended up touching all the other four senses like a cycle of triggers. What makes sensory appeal more interesting is that it can begin with any sense organ and impact all the others. There may be few exceptions to this observation but the point is that under normal circumstances, sensory appeal attracts customers in positive ways influencing their experiences and buying behaviour.

Get advise for E-commerce retail business : http://www.yourretailcoach.ae/contact-us/

Spotless cleanliness, vibrancy of colours, and organised service scape and merchandising constitute the crux of making a supermarket appear attractive to the human eye. These elements combined boost customers’ motivation levels to explore further. Upon entering a supermarket store, the overall view from the point of entrance is the first invitation to activate the other senses. It is important for supermarkets to score high on this first-sight parameter. Falling short here means the psychological desire to trigger the other senses will be limited or curtailed. This does not augur well in creating the intended shopping journey. In such cases, customers may be paying a visit but their intent to make purchases or visiting again to that store will not be strong. In cities like Dubai, Doha, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh and other prominent cities of the Middle East, supermarkets have to be on their toes when it comes to cleanliness and degree of organisation in supermarkets.

Like sight, smell also plays its role in initiating or furthering a shopping journey. Good smell or aroma can cause customers to draw towards stores or sections of a supermarket store. Bakeries or bakery sections serve as an example here. It is common to find local bakery stores using the exotic smell of baked products that let customers know there is a bakery in close vicinity and potentially also draw them towards finding and visiting such bakeries. The same applies to supermarkets as well with the exception that supermarkets cannot use strong smells to spread all over the place. They must play it low-key like premium perfumes - no beacons but irresistible once near. Then it is the time to do wonders for the other senses.

Products placed on the shelves in supermarket stores can be touched and checked by customers. There is nothing out of the conventional norms here. However, the sense of touch plays a bigger role in the case of certain product categories like fruits, vegetables, rice, lentils, pulses, herbs, spices, or any such product in the case of which being able to physically touch and examine helps gauge their quality. However, the challenge for supermarkets here is that almost all goods are offered and sold in packaged form. This problem can be addressed by keeping small samples of what is inside the packets. Fruits and vegetables can be kept in transparent cooling equipment with doors so that customers can pick them up and check them. Maintaining hygiene standards is important here. Apparel and linens also fall under this category. As experienced supermarket setup consultants, YRC maintains that allowing physical validation of certain product categories helps customers expedite their purchasing decisions which in turn aligns with a good shopping experience in supermarkets. A good initiative could be offering free samples of fruit juices (say near the store entrance) to promote juicer/blender products.

The element of sound or music is not strictly necessary but it has the potential to make or break supermarket customer experience. In terms of sound (or noise levels), the bare minimum objective should be to keep the atmosphere calm and peaceful. Decibel levels (internal and external sources combined) should not affect normal conversation inside the store. The essence lies in ensuring that the sonic atmosphere does not cross paths with the requirements of the supermarket customer experience. This could be done more easily with the help of hardware and software for supermarket operations management.

Get advise for E-commerce retail business : http://www.yourretailcoach.ae/contact-us/

Dr Rupal K Shah
Mind-A-Mend Consultancy Private Limited
+91 98604 26700
consult@mindamend.net
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