Chanel No. 5 perfume bottles displayed in a retail store

Scent marketing does appear to have a genuine, if modest, influence on shopper mood and dwell time in a store, which can indirectly affect spending, though the effect varies a lot by person, context, and how well the scent actually suits the brand, so it’s a real but imprecise marketing tool rather than a guaranteed sales lever.

What’s reasonably well supported versus overstated

The broad idea that ambient scent can affect mood, comfort, and perceived quality of a space is genuinely well established, and retailers have used this for exactly the reasons covered in our related answer on why shops use a signature scent. Where the marketing claims get shakier is in specific, precise statistics about sales uplift; those figures are often produced or cited by companies selling scent marketing services themselves, which is worth treating with a healthy pinch of scepticism rather than accepting as settled, independent fact.

What’s fair to say honestly is that scent contributes to atmosphere the same way lighting and music do, a poorly chosen or overpowering scent can actively drive customers away, while a well-matched one can make a space feel more pleasant to spend time in. Beyond that, exact influence on purchasing decisions is genuinely hard to isolate from everything else happening in a store. Our perfume trends guide covers this honestly, and the complete guide to perfume has more on scent and psychology.