The Scent of Art. Perception, Evaluation, and Behaviour in a Museum in Response to Olfactory Marketing

Olfactory marketing has been increasing its presence in commercial environments in recent years thanks to its influence on perceptions, evaluations, and behaviour. However, the number of scientific studies on the issue is limited, and this is even more true for nonprofit environments. The aim of this experiment is to provide empirical answers about the influence of smell on the evaluation and behavior of the consumer of nonprofit services, specifically the museum consumer. For this purpose, an experiment was carried out at the Gonzalez Santana Museum over four weeks in March and April 2017, during which three rooms in the museum were filled with scents considered to be congruent. The results obtained from the MANCOVA analysis demonstrate scent having a significant influence on perceptions and evaluations, as well as on the intentions to revisit the institution, and significant repercussions for management and researching can be derived from this.