Scents of celebrities: Endorsers’ impact on buyers’ online perfume purchase

Literature has highlighted the challenges of selling experience (vs. search) products online. In addition, the role of celebrity endorsers in purchase intention and attitudes towards brands has been emphasized by scholars. This article argues that celebrities provide cues on products’ sensorial characteristics that have been so far disregarded by extant literature. By choosing perfume as a complex experience product, twenty-seven participants from three countries were interviewed in order to find how endorsers could assist e-shoppers to identify fragrant characteristics in the absence of the real scent. The results of the qualitative content analysis reveal that endorsers’ personality traits and lifestyle could act as predictor of the type of scent. Scent categorization based on such traits are presented. This article provides valuable contributions to both researchers and practitioners interested in online sales of experience goods. Limitations and avenues for future search are also provided.