A few years back I noticed that my shopping experience started to change, I would walk into a regular high street store and the music would be fast and loud, personally, causing me to want to walk right back out. Then I noticed, calming music being played at particular underground stations during rush hour traffic..hmmmmmm.

A little research pointed me in the direction of a new “trend” in the capitalistic states we live in defined as “neuromarketing”.

It boils down to this, Scientist advise stores to waft spicy “jingle smells” such as cinnamon and brandy through their stores to loosen their customers’ wallets. They recommend fast-paced seasonal music to impart some urgency to the spending spree, and to deck the halls with psychologically arousing colours such as red.

Now if you think that is interesting, you aint seen nothing yet

Taking it a step further, companies are paying scientist to figure out how to “get inside” the heads of Christmas shoppers using “neuromarketing” – the use of a machine to read your mind as you weigh up your gift options. A Californian company, NeuroFocus, has unveiled a headset that can measure the brain’s electrochemical activity as a shopper wanders around a mall, allowing a computer to collect all that cerebral data remotely. This can provide “critical knowledge and insights into how consumers perceive their brands, products, packaging, in-store marketing, and advertising at the deep subconscious level in real time”, according to Dr A K Pradeep, its chief executive.

I managed to find a video of the man himself, explaining his view on the topic. Very interesting choice of words…

Digging a little bit more I came across a google tech talk on the topic

Some of you may be on your way out to do some lastmin.com Christmas shopping (apparently the shops are open until midnight this eve!), and some of you may be getting ready to hit the sales on boxing day. It would be interesting to know what you came up across in terms of neuromarketing? Leave me a feedback comment on your return.

Happy Shopping Geeks

Ex