Measuring individual differences in active smelling to evaluate products – The ENFAS-Instrument

•Informational/self-protective ENFAS reveals the effect of odor as sign of product quality.•Autotelic/affective ENFAS relates to the olfactory pleasures that products evoke.•People high on ENFAS like to smell items and prefer to buy unpackaged foods.•People high on ENFAS prefer multisensory over virtual environments.•ENFAS opens a potential for market segmentation and product positioning. Consumers evaluate products with all their senses but exhibit considerable variability in the extent to which they actively use and rely on a specific sense. We know little about the variability in consumers’ propensity to actively engage their sense of smell in the context of product evaluation in purchase decision making. This research provides insights into this issue by conceptualizing the need for smell construct, detailing the development of the ENFAS scale, and providing state-of-the-art psychometric evidence of its validity. Ten studies contributed to a two-dimensional 11-item instrument, supporting the scale’s external and cross-national validity, and establishing the position of need for smell in its nomological net. The results yield insight into how smell perception affects consumer choices and may help optimize product presentations for the retail context.