Brain Signals Measured and Detected: We Are Influenced by Scent in Shopping

Prof. Dr. Aydın Akan, a faculty member of the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, and Instructor Dr. Rıza Sadıkzade from Izmir University of Economics (IUE), investigated the impact of orders sent in scented packages on consumers during online shopping. The study, which measured brain signals using electroencephalography (EEG) and excitement levels using skin conductance devices, found that scented orders increased consumers' pleasure and arousal responses by 90% compared to unscented products.

In this first-of-its-kind study conducted in Turkey, the emotional responses of consumers to products sent in scented and unscented forms by companies managing the online shopping process were also determined.

"SCENTS HAVE A GREAT IMPACT ON COMPANY PREFERENCE"

Emphasizing that they supported the results obtained in the study with surveys, Dr. Sadıkzade said, “When we compared it with surveys, we found that our study had a 92% consistency. We revealed that scents have a great impact on the preference of companies. Therefore, we concluded that sending orders scented by online sales companies is effective in people's decisions to shop more and prefer those companies. We then conducted this experiment with four different scents. As a result, it emerged that companies that choose the most liked scent can become more preferred.”

"WE MEASURED THE RESPONSES OF EEG SIGNALS TO SCENT"

Providing information about the project, Prof. Dr. Aydın Akan said that they can collect human physiological signals with the EEG system, which allows them to learn about brain functions and activities used in their science laboratory. Prof. Dr. Akan said, “We have an electrocardiography (ECG) system used for the diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases with the EEG signal, electromyography (EMG), a neurological test that measures muscle response and electrical activity given by the body by stimulating nerves and muscles, and a system that tracks eye movements. In previous studies, we examined individuals' attention levels or the effects of various environmental factors on attention. In this project, we tried to measure the responses of consumers shopping online to scented product packaging. While doing this study, we also measured the responses of EEG signals to scent and obtained positive results.”