Smell Of Chocolate In Bookstores Increases Sales!

• A study was conducted that showed customers in a book-store were 3.48 times more likely to peruse romantic books if the store smelt of chocolate, and 5.93 times more likely to buy them!
• Researchers in Belgium have discovered that shoppers are more likely to take their time browsing and buy books from certain genres if a book store smells of chocolate.
• Scientists from the Hasselt University in eastern Belgium conducted a 10 day experiment in a general interest book shop.
• The team dispersed a subtle smell of chocolate into the store that wasn't immediately noticeable to customers but strong enough so that it could be identified once pointed out.
• The smell was present in the store for around half of the store's opening hours and researchers found that customers were more likely to take their time in the store and talk to members of staff.
• It's thought that it works so well because the sense of smell is most directly connected to the parts of the brain responsible for processing emotions. "It goes directly to the limbic system, which is the emotional control centre of your brain, so you smell something and – bang – it triggers an emotion," says Semoff. "Whereas all the other senses have to be processed first."