Every December, stores across Colombia put up the tree, turn up the carols and hope for the best. Some of them get it right. Many end up with a space that smells of three different candles, plays a playlist the team can no longer stand by the 10th, and feels exactly like the store next door.
In luxury retail we learn early that customers do not remember the decoration. They remember how the place made them feel. That feeling is built through the senses, and it can be designed. This is what the research says, and how I would prepare a store for this season.
Why now and not in December
The season is longer than it looks. In Fenalco’s Christmas 2025 survey, 47% of Colombian shoppers said they buy in December, but 26% buy during Black Friday, Black Days and Cyber Monday, 17% throughout November and 7% even earlier (Fenalco). More than half of the season’s buyers make their decision before December. If your store experience is ready on 1 December, it is ready late.
There is also a deeper shift. Bain’s 2026 luxury report describes customers who want meaning and experiences rather than just products, with experiential luxury growing faster than goods, and warns that “the tolerance for disappointing experiences or products does not remain strong” (Bain & Company, 2026). A physical store’s advantage over a website is precisely what can be felt there.
What the research says
Sensory marketing is not intuition. There are decades of studies behind it. Four that every store owner should know:
Scent. A meta-analysis published in the Journal of Marketing combined 71 samples and more than 15,000 respondents. Pleasant ambient scents increased customer responses, with spending estimated to rise 3% in an average situation and 23% in the most favorable one. Scents worked better when they were congruent with the place, simple rather than complex, and familiar (Roschk and Hosseinpour, 2020, via AMA). The study also found that intensity does not work in a straight line: more scent is not better.
Scent and music together. A classic Christmas study tested a Christmas scent with and without Christmas music. With Christmas music, the scent improved shoppers’ evaluations of the store. With other music, the same scent lowered them (Spangenberg, Grohmann and Sprott, 2005). The senses are not added one by one; they either agree or clash.
Music tempo. In a supermarket study, slow background music made customers walk more slowly, and daily sales were higher than with fast music (Milliman, 1982). Pace shapes how long people stay and how much they look.
Music style. When a supermarket played French music, French wine outsold German wine; with German music, the opposite happened. Customers did not notice the music had influenced them (North, Hargreaves and McKendrick, 1999). Music primes what the customer thinks about.
These studies were done in other countries and some are decades old, so treat them as principles, not promises. But the principle repeats in all of them: senses that fit the brand and fit each other change behavior, often without the customer noticing.
How to prepare your store, sense by sense
Scent: one, subtle and yours
- Choose one scent for the whole season and keep it. Mixing candles, diffusers and air fresheners confuses the customer and dilutes the effect.
- Simple and familiar beats complex. A clear note that fits your brand (wood, citrus, a soft spice) works better than a busy blend.
- Subtle. The customer should notice it when they come in, then forget it. If the team gets headaches by the afternoon, it is too strong.
- Coherent with what you sell. A cinnamon scent may suit a bakery or a home store; in a jewelry store or a fragrance counter it competes with the product.
Sound: a curated playlist, not the radio
- Build a playlist for each part of the day. Calmer and slower when you want people to browse; a bit more energy at peak times, without rushing anyone.
- Christmas music, in measure. If you use it, mix it with music that sounds like your brand, and make sure scent and decoration tell the same story.
- Volume that allows conversation. If an advisor has to raise their voice to explain a product, the music is too loud.
- Think about your team. They will hear the playlist hundreds of times. Rotate it every week.
Light and sight: guide the eye
- Light the product, not just the space. Warm, well-aimed light on key pieces; avoid flat, cold light everywhere.
- Less is more. A few well-staged windows and displays communicate more than a store full of tinsel. Leave space to breathe and move, especially on crowded days.
- A clear path. Use light and displays to lead the customer from the entrance to your gift ideas and to the till.
Touch: let them hold it
- Products within reach. In gift season, people buy what they can touch and imagine giving.
- Textures in the details: the paper of the bag, the gift wrapping, the card. That is the part the person receiving the gift will touch too.
- Comfort: a place to sit for those accompanying the buyer and a comfortable temperature. A customer who is too hot leaves sooner.
Taste, when it fits
A coffee, a chocolate or a glass of water offered at the right moment turns a transaction into hospitality. It must fit the brand and never be a substitute for attention.
The sense that matters most: the team
Scent and music set the stage; people make the sale. In December, teams are tired, stores are full and service drops just when the most new customers arrive. Before the season:
- Train the team on the season’s plan: gift ideas by budget, how to suggest without pushing, and how to wrap well and fast.
- Agree on a short greeting and a closing, so that every customer feels attended to even on the busiest Saturday. I wrote about this in the customer service protocol for stores.
- Record every new client. December brings people who have never visited you. With their permission, note their name, what they bought and for whom. That is the beginning of clienteling, and the reason they will come back in January.
Common mistakes
- Too many scents or one that is too strong.
- The same Christmas playlist on a loop from November to January.
- Decoration that hides the product or blocks the way.
- Senses that contradict each other: a tropical scent with snowy carols and minimalist windows.
- Investing in decoration and not in the team.
How to tell it is working
Measure what you can: how long customers stay, average ticket, conversion (how many visitors buy) and comments in reviews. Change one thing at a time so you know what made the difference. And ask the people who know best: your advisors on the floor, and a mystery shopper who experiences the store as a customer would.
A store that smells, sounds and looks like its brand is remembered long after the season ends. If you want help designing your store’s sensory identity or preparing your team for December, that is part of my multisensory branding and in-store experience services.