Which Senses Play a Role in Consumers' Purchasing Experience in Your Chosen Store and How?

1. Which senses play a role in consumers' purchasing experience in your chosen store and how?
2. What impact does perception have on consumer buying in this store?

I decided to go to a Lush store in Ljubljana and watch the impact of senses that the store offers.

Lush is a cosmetic retailer from the United Kingdom, specialized on skin care. Already on the street I got attracted by an intensive but fresh mix of scents that billowed in front of the store, which intensified by coming closer. As soon as I opened the door, I found myself in a very small room, which was at the same time really bright and packed with stuff that you could’t really define on the first sight. It reminded me of a greengrocer’s shop, as all product names and prices were written on blackboards and the products were lying all over the shelfs without any particular order. Only by approaching and reading the attached tag, I could identify the products as soap or shower gel. The outstanding fact, that the products are not wrapped nor have a precise size, attracts the eye of the costumer. You can’t find e.g. a normal bar of soap, but a big block of soap bulk, which reminded me of  a cheese wheel or a chocolate bar, of which the shop assistant cuts off the wished amount in front of the consumer’s eyes. Another sense that played a role on my visit of the Lush store was the feel of the products. In contrast to other stores, you were allowed to touch most of the products and try them. As every product was unwrapped and had a sample which the consumer could try, it was not hard to overcome inhibition to do what you wouldn’t dare in other shops. Another thing that attracted the eye on first sight, was the fact, that every offered product had a different color as well as a special and unique scent. Most of the scents were familiar, like vanilla or lemon, some were seasonal, such as the cinnamon product line for christmas, which was already advertised in one corner of the shop.

In my opinion, the perception of the store has a lot of impact on the consumer. As a Lush store doesn’t look like a high-priced store with its blackboards and unwrapped offers, you feel as if you were on a market. It is as a student, as a result, easier to overcome inhibition to enter the store. The undefined and sometimes funny or unusual forms of the offered products excite ones curiosity and urge to find out what exactly the product is. The intensive scents of the different products have a big influence on the consumer as well. Most of the scents are known and remind the consumer of a special situation or the childhood, which encourages the costumer to buy the product. The ethical concept of Lush as a company, which is publicized everywhere in the shop and which you cannot miss, gives the customer a feeling of security to do something good for the environment and the society, without having doubts.

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