Your pulse is racing, your heart beats faster, your feet carry you on and on towards the summit. Above you, the cry of an eagle. Or was it a buzzard? Silence. Only your breath and your footsteps. You notice every rustle in the bushes. And you have never felt so alive. Ah, we all know it: that feeling on the mountain. Indescribable. Simply amazing. And if your clothing fits perfectly on top of that: the cherry on the cake. And that’s exactly why SALEWA came into being. A few mountaineers simply weren’t happy with what was on offer. So they just went and developed something themselves. Well, not just like that, of course. It took its time. But the result speaks for itself: one of the leading brands for mountain sports! Skiing, climbing or hiking: everything a sporty heart could desire. And the development process is still going on: constantly redefining the status quo, keeping an eye on the future and putting it into practice in the present. And because it isn’t only clothing that moves on, but also the possibilities in marketing, there is something very special in the air at the SALEWA shop in Schladming. It smells of… nature, mountains, forest. Of a cold beer at the alpine hut after a hike. How does it work? Owner Irene Reingruber let us in on the secret…
Question: The SALEWA brand is one of the leaders in mountain sports and offers pretty much everything a sporty heart could desire. What makes your shop in particular so special?
Reingruber: Nature is like my second home anyway. That moment on the mountain, at the hut, the scent of the forest… I can identify with that 100 per cent. And having my own shop has always been my life’s dream, really for as long as I can remember. Throw those two things together and you get my shop! I put my heart and soul into it. It’s my baby. And of course people notice that: the feeling simply comes across. There are also only three of us in the shop: my husband, our employee Matthias and me. We have a real laugh and enjoy what we do, and that rubs off on the customers, which is why they keep coming back. It simply makes it very special and gives the whole thing a personal touch. People love it. And so do I, of course.
Question: A special shop needs a special diffuser. Which one won you over, and how was it installed?
Reingruber: It was always important to me that the scent and the diffuser fit perfectly into my shop. That they form a perfect symbiosis, so to speak. And so the AROMEA Flex was recommended to me. Small, neat, flexible: everything I need. This flexible little fellow wasn’t built in at all. It doesn’t need to be, I think. It has a pretty design and I like showing it off. At the moment it stands by my big leather armchair in the shop. For the men who have to wait for their wives. We all know how that goes. But with this fragrant little whizz-kid, the wait isn’t nearly so bad.
Question: Which fragrance did you choose? Motivating, to suit the sport? Relaxing, for a pleasant shopping atmosphere? Or perhaps sales-boosting?
Reingruber: AROMEA simply has so many different fragrances that I knew I’d never be able to decide. And besides, I just wanted “my” fragrance. As individual and special as my shop. So I opted for a Corporate Scent! You can’t buy it like this anywhere: my very own Swiss stone pine creation. As a carpenter’s daughter, I was born with a fondness for wood. And since there’s a lot of wood in my shop anyway, it’s simply a perfect fit. My customers always think it’s the wood in the shop that smells so good, until I let them in on my fragrant secret. The ultimate proof: it doesn’t get more authentic than that!
Question: When you close your eyes and breathe in deeply, what images does your Corporate Scent conjure up for you? What do you associate it with?
Reingruber: With this scent, you quite simply feel as if you’re standing in the middle of the forest. Pure relaxation, freedom and joy in nature. Every time I smell it, it beams me straight up to the alpine pastures in my mind. So if I close my eyes now and breathe in… Then I can see myself at my favourite alpine hut. Sitting comfortably out on the terrace, pleasantly tired from hiking, with a cold beer in front of me. The scent of the forest all around me, gazing into the sunset, totally relaxed. That’s exactly how it smells. It simply doesn’t get better!
Question: You’re clearly very taken with your fragrance. Have other people noticed it too? What feedback have you had since you started using AROMEA scent marketing?
Reingruber: It definitely gets noticed! It feels as if I get compliments around the clock! Just last week another customer came in, and he was already asking what smelled so good as he walked through the door! And from a man: that must mean something. Because men usually don’t notice things like that at all (laughs). It’s just always lovely to see how comfortable customers feel here and how much the scent contributes to that.
Question: How can scenting with AROMEA lend you a hand in the current climate?
Reingruber: The great thing is that customers relax immediately when they come into my shop. There’s no more rush and no more stress. They simply feel at ease. It doesn’t even matter if I tell them I won’t be with them for 10 minutes. They just wait! Where else do you get that? Normally most people would simply leave. Not with me, and that really is incredible… And with the scent, I bring the relaxing feeling from outdoors to indoors: perfect for the current climate. At this point, a big thank-you to AROMEA for the great work, too!
Thank you for talking to us!
©Header and centre image: SALEWA
Irene Reingruber on scenting during the corona pandemic
