Can You See How it Smells? What Eye Tracking Can Tell us about the Shelf Management of Luxury Perfumes

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to advance the theory and contribute to the practice of luxury perfumes’ shelf management by decoding the relationship between attention on the shelf, purchase decision-making, and brand recall. It employs an eye-tracking experiment to analyze attention spans and fixations, which is combined with a questionnaire to uncover recall and purchase intent. The research identifies attention patterns and the influence of attention on recall and purchase intention. It further reveals the main factors that influence attention on the shelf in the luxury perfume industry. This is a milestone for further elaboration on the benefits of the fashion mainstream for luxury perfumes and the debate regarding whether luxury perfumes should be treated similar to mainstream fashion or similar to any other product in basic shelf management rules. This study enables shelf managers and marketers to place the perfumes both on the shelf and in consumer minds to maintain a top-of-the-mind brand position. Managerial implications are significant and address perfume industry packaging as well as shelf positioning.