But they are a deliberate marketing tool designed to influence emotions and spending decisions, says Agnieszka Mroczek, PhD, a biologist at the University of Warsaw.

“Christmas scents are not there just to create a mood. They are a tool marketers use to deliberately control emotions and decisions, leveraging mechanisms rooted in the oldest parts of the brain,” she says.

According to Mroczek, scent is uniquely powerful because it reaches the brain faster than any other sense.

“Scent triggers reactions exceptionally quickly because it is the only sense with direct access to the brain structures responsible for emotions and memory. Therefore, when used properly, it can easily guide our behaviour in stores,” she says.

In an interview with the Polish Press Agency (PAP), Mroczek explains that scent marketing is a strategy that uses carefully selected aromas to shape consumer behaviour and build brand identity. Its use has been growing steadily for more than a decade, she says, even though most customers are unaware that it is happening.

In shops, hotels and restaurants, fragrances are deliberately diffused to evoke positive emotions, trigger memories and create an atmosphere that encourages spending. During the Christmas season, that effort intensifies, with blends chosen specifically to conjure associations with gifts, family and the warmth of home.

“Olfactive signals, unlike stimuli received through other senses, bypass initial control in the thalamus and directly reach the limbic system, the areas of the brain responsible for emotions and memory. Therefore, the reaction to scent is exceptionally rapid and often occurs outside of full awareness. The associations and sensations thus evoked strongly influence purchasing decisions, which can increase our spending by up to several dozen percent,” Mroczek says.

She explains that scent-linked memories are stored deep in the brain.

“If a specific scent was present during an experience, whether pleasant or difficult, the brain remembers this combination. Therefore, such a scent can later evoke emotion, happiness, but also aversion,” she emphasises.

The strongest scent memories tend to form in childhood.

“She adds that the strongest such traces are formed between the ages of 6 and 10, but this process continues to some extent throughout life.”

Understanding how this works, companies invest heavily in developing signature fragrances, refining how they are dispersed in spaces and even creating so-called scent logos that become part of a brand’s identity.

At Christmas, however, those strategies converge around familiar cultural cues. In Poland, Mroczek says, manufacturers and retailers rely on notes of vanilla, cinnamon, cloves and pine needles to trigger associations with traditional food, gifts and family gatherings. Elsewhere, the aromas differ.

“For example, in Sweden, pine needles dominate, in Spain it is anise, and in the United States - mint. This is the result of the cultural conditions and history of a given region,” she says.

Across countries, though, the underlying biological mechanism is the same. Familiar scents affect neurotransmitters, lowering stress hormones such as cortisol while increasing serotonin or dopamine. The result is a shift in mood, a greater sense of security and changes in how decisions are made.

Customers, Mroczek says, become more optimistic, more relaxed and more willing to add items to their baskets. A shop that smells good also feels like the right place to buy gifts.

“Some studies show that the presence of scent can increase customer engagement by about 30 percent, although it is difficult to separate the influence of scent-marketing from other forms of sensory marketing, such as music and visual stimuli, which increase in intensity up to fivefold before the holidays,” she points out.

The effect is not limited to shop interiors. Individual products are also designed to smell a certain way to suggest what they do.

“In cosmetology, scent is meant to suggest a product's function, regardless of its actual effect. If a cream smells of herbs, it seems medicinal. If it smells fresh, we assume it will cleanse well. This is an intellectual interpretation mechanism, but the emotions evoked by the scent still come first,” Mroczek says.

In some cases, the manipulation is even subtler. She says certain stores use fragrances below the threshold of conscious perception.

“Some stores spray their fragrances so that they are detectable by the limbic system but unrecognisable by higher brain structures. Customers do not smell anything, but they still react emotionally,” she explains.

She points to research illustrating just how strong the effect can be.

“In one study, consumers rated a luxury product as more valuable solely because the appropriate fragrance was present in the environment, even though they were unaware of its presence,” Mroczek says.

Resisting the influence of scent marketing is not easy. Fully rational decision-making, she argues, would require extreme measures.

“To fully consciously evaluate your own decision, you would need to interrupt contact with the scent, clear your nose, and ‘reset your mind’. Alternatively, you could use a so-called counter-scent, such as rosemary oil, which, according to research, supports analytical processes. However, it is difficult to imagine anyone doing this during every day or holiday shopping,” she adds.

What does help, she says, is taking care of your physical and mental state. Fatigue and stress, common in the run-up to Christmas, make people more vulnerable.

“The more tired we are, the weaker the higher brain structures become, and the stronger the oldest ones, responsible for emotions. As a result, our decisions become more impulsive,” Mroczek explains.

Another option is to avoid physical shops altogether.

“I know that if I smell the beautiful scent of a candle at the checkout, I'll consider it something that will improve my life. But that is an emotion, not a rational assessment of the product,” she concludes.

Katarzyna Czechowicz (PAP)

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tr. RL