Automotive News - October 16, 2017 - Supplement - S42

42 | OCTOBER 16, 2017
LAND ROVER SOUTH DADE, MIAMI

Signature scent helps to create
Land Rover dealership's ambiance
Does store's aroma make
shoppers more likely
to make a purchase?
Printed in Automotive News July 17, 2017

Katie Buda

autonews@crain.com

he new-car smell isn't what it used
to be. At least not at Land Rover
South Dade in Miami, where shoppers
are greeted with subtle scents of cedar,
vanilla and violet.
General Manager Mark de la Cruz infuses
the dealership with a custom scent called
"My Way" to ensure that his vehicles don't
smell like other new cars.
"This store needed a cultural change," he
said. "We had to change our style of customer
service, and aroma became a big component
in that."
Land Rover South Dade's showroom is infused with an aroma called "My Way" that was designed
The fragrance enters through the ventilaby a Boca Raton, Fla., scent marketing agency to enhance shoppers' experience.
tion system and spreads from ceiling panels
tailored aromas are piped in, Abassi said.
Car shoppers in scented surroundings,
above the sales pavilion and service depart"There's a great deal of research on this," she
when compared with those in a frament.
said. "Ambiance has everything to do with
grance-free environment, tend to lin"It puts customers into a different
high-end purchases."
ger longer or believe that they have
frame of mind. There's a lot of apThe atmosphere inside the dealership
spent less time in the showroom
prehension about making a large
There's
seems to positively influence shoppers'
than they have, according to
purchase such as a luxury autosomething in the air
moods, de la Cruz said.
Farah Abassi, owner of Aromobile," de la Cruz said. "The
at Land Rover South
"Many of my clients come in and make a
ma360, the Boca Raton, Fla.,
combination of scents and
Dade: A customnote about how the scents make them feel,"
scent marketing agency that
sounds makes the experience
made scent that
he said, adding that the scent differentiates
designed Land Rover South
more soothing for them."
sets an upscale
Land Rover South Dade from other luxury
Dade's custom smells.
De la Cruz was also intrigued
mood for shoppers.
dealerships.
"It's really about first impreswith using smell to unlock
Do smells make people spend?
sions," Abassi said. "When you
memories, thinking that perhaps
De la Cruz thinks they might play a part, but
walk in the front door, you want other
shoppers would associate fond recolhe declined to give figures on Land Rover
unpleasant smells to be masked and inlections of their vehicles with Land Rover
South Dade's sales before and after introducstead feel tones of sophistication, dependSouth Dade.
ing the scents.
ability and trust."
Scientists have found that when an individ"When you're in the luxury auto space, that
Consumers indicate a greater desire to buy
ual sniffs something, olfactory nerves near
client has more resources and thus price
and a willingness to pay higher prices when
the top of the nose, in charge of smells, send
doesn't become a large factor for them. If
input to the amygdala portion of the brain,
someone is going to spend money
which is linked to memories. That creates the
"There's a lot of apprehension
anywhere they want, the exconnection among smell, memory and emoabout making a large purchase
perience, the atmosphere,
tion, which helps explain the nostalgic feeling
the scent makes them that
known as the Proustian effect.
such as a luxury automobile.
much more comfortable,"
"Some smells are associated widely with
The combination of scents and
de la Cruz said. "The more
happy times or places, and can bring back a
sounds makes the experience
comfortable a customer is,
general feeling of those times," said Howard
more soothing for them."
the more willing they
Eichenbaum, a psychologist and neuroscienare to buy." c
tist at Boston University.
Mark de la Cruz, Land Rover South Dade

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