Store scent(香味)

What is the first thing you notice when you walk into a shop? The products displayed(展示) at the entrance? Or the soft background music?

But have you ever noticed the smell? Unless it is bad, the answer is likely to be no.But while a shop's scent may not be outstanding compared with sights and sounds, it is certainly there. And it is proving to be an increasingly powerful tool in encouraging people to purchase.

A brand store has become famous for its distinctive scent which floats through the fairly dark hall and out to the entrance, via scent machines. A smell may be attractive but it may not just be used for freshening air. One sports goods company once reported that when it first introduced scent into its stores, customers' intention to purchase increased by 80 per cent.

When it comes to the best shopping streets in Paris, scent is just as important to a brand's success as the quality of its window displays and goods on sale. That is mainly because shopping is a very different experience to what it used to be.

Some years ago, the focus for bread name shopping was on a few people with sales assistants' disproving attitude and don't­touch­what­you­can't­afford displays. Now the rise of electronic commerce (e­commerce)has opened up famous brands to a wider audience. But while e­shops can use sights and sounds, only bricks­and­mortar stores(实体店) can offer a full experience from the minute customers step through the door to the moment they leave. Another brand store seeks to be much more than a shop, but rather a destination.And scent is just one way to achieve this.

Now, a famous store uses complex man­made smell to make sure that the soft scent of baby powder floats through the kid department, and coconut(椰子) scent in the swimsuit section. A department store has even opened a new lab, inviting customers on a journey into the store's windows to smell books，pots and drawers, in search of their perfect scent.

67. According to the passage, what is an increasingly powerful tool in the success of some brand stores?

A. Friendly assistants.

B. Unique scents.

C. Soft background music.

D. Attractive window display.

68. E­shops are mentioned in the passage to ________.

A. show the advantages of bricks­and­mortar stores

B. urge shop assistants to change their attitude

C. push stores to use sights and sounds

D. introduce the rise of e­commerce

69. The underlined word “destination” in Paragraph 5 means ________.

A. a platform that exhibits goods

B. a spot where travellers like to stay

C. a place where customers love to go

D. a target that a store expects to meet

70. The main purpose of the passage is to ________.

A. compare and evaluate

B. examine and assess

C. argue and discuss

D. inform and explain

【要点综述】 本文主要介绍了香味对于传统实体店的影响。各大品牌店都加强了味觉对顾客消费欲求的刺激，并根据商品的不同而调节香味。

67. B　细节理解题。根据第二段中“And it is proving to be an increasing powerful tool in encouraging people to purchase.”可知，此句中的it指的是前面的scent，故选B。

68. A　推理判断题。根据第五段中“But while e­shops…only bricks­and­mortar stores (实体店) can offer a full experience…”可知作者的倾向非常明显，认为实体店能提供完整的购物体验，即强调传统实体店的优势。故选A。

69. C　词义猜测题。destination的本意是“目的地”，与上文提到的shop场地相通，但意义迥异，不仅是购物的地方，更多的是一种购物的完整体验，有视觉、听觉和味觉的多重享受。这里的意义是针对消费者而言的，而不是商店或商家。A、D选项都是针对商家的，而B项跟文章没有关系。故选C。

70. D　主旨大意题。这篇文章主要是谈论香味对购物心理的影响，是一篇说明文，所以重在介绍和解释香味对于实体店的影响。A项意为“对比和评估”，对比谈到了，而评价涉及较少;B意为“检测和评估”，科学检测意味太浓，跟本文大意不符。C项意为“争辩”，没有批评靶子的情况下，这种说法不成立。所以本题选D，介绍并解释了“香味”，而没有进行科学试验。