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Although retailers know that consumers do not like cluttered stores, messy layouts are sometimes inevitable. This research examines whether diffusing pleasant scents can overcome consumers' negative response to a messy store. Specifically, this study investigates the effect of pleasant scents (un)related to neatness on consumer evaluations of a tidy versus a messy store. An experiment with 198 respondents revealed that a pleasant scent not associated with neatness functions as a positively valenced prime, causing consumers to evaluate the products in the tidy store more positively than the products in the messy store. Additionally, when diffused in a messy store, a pleasant ambient scent has a negative effect on consumers' product evaluation, because of a mismatch between the pleasant scent and the unpleasant messy layout. However, this negative effect can be canceled out by diffusing a pleasant scent that is associated with neatness.

The aims of this research were to (1) explore the different effects of an ambient scent of chocolate on general approach versus goal-directed behavior, and (2) investigate whether an ambient chocolate scent diffused in a retail environment has a positive effect on consumers' behavior toward thematically congruent products. A field study with 201 participants shows that a chocolate scent positively influences general approach behavior and negatively influences goal-directed behavior in a bookstore. Moreover, when gender is controlled for, the chocolate scent improves approach and buying behavior toward thematically congruent books and decreases approach and buying behavior toward incongruent books. Sales figures also provide some indicative support for the findings.