Why The Smell Of Abercrombie Stores Gives Shoppers Anxiety
The company's colognes are some of its highest-grossing products. Abercrombie's signature cologne, Fierce, generates more than $80 million annually, according to Abercrombie CEO Mike Jeffries.
But their musky scent reminds shoppers of enclosed spaces, which can induce anxiety and claustrophobia, the Huffington Post's Kim Bhasin reports.
A team of researchers at Concordia University studied shoppers in a simulated retail store and discovered that scents reminiscent of spaciousness, such as green apple and "seashore," put shoppers most at ease, Bhasin writes.
Those that were suggestive of indoor spaces, such as firewood or buttered popcorn, however, made shoppers feel anxious.
"If you perceive some level of anxiety, you start to feel uncomfortable in the retail environment," Bianca Grohmann, who conducted the study, told Bhasin. "You don't really want to stick around, you don't want to spend time in the store and you don't want to look at merchandise."