Imagine That! Stimulating Consumers’ Imagination for Scented Product Omnichannel Success

Distribution channels for scented products rarely interact. Consumers either smell and buy scented products in store or purchase them online without smelling. Such channel isolation is inefficient. To achieve synergies, we propose a new omnichannel strategy, rooted in the neurobiology of olfaction, unique to scented products. The key is to design product packages (i.e., scent names and artwork) that stimulate consumers' imagination, or olfactory imagery, aiming to maximize curiosity and intent to try. Unlike extant omnichannel strategies deployed at the retail phase, our recommendations are at the product design phase where the scented product package is the strategy