Christmas Scenting for Business: How Myer Melbourne Made the Festive Season Multisensory

Christmas is one of the few times of year when a retail environment is expected to transform completely. Windows change. Lighting changes. Music changes. Displays become theatrical, gifting moves to the centre of the customer journey, and familiar spaces are rebuilt around the feeling of the festive season.

Few Australian retailers understand that transformation better than Myer.

At Myer Melbourne on Bourke Street, Christmas is more than a seasonal campaign. The Myer Christmas Windows have become a much-loved Australian family tradition. In 2025, the display celebrated its 70th anniversary with a six-window collaboration with the LEGO Group, created from more than 488,000 LEGO bricks and supported by a wider programme of festive experiences at the flagship store.

During that same 2025 Christmas trading period, Scent Australia introduced another sensory layer to the Bourke Street flagship: Christmas fragrance.

Adding scent to one of Australia's most recognisable Christmas retail experiences

Scent Australia conducted a seasonal Christmas scenting trial at Myer's Melbourne CBD flagship, using commercial ScentPro™ diffusers around the ground-floor entrance and main thoroughfare.

This placement was deliberate. The Bourke Street entrance is one of the first in-store touchpoints for shoppers arriving from the mall, making it an ideal location to introduce an immediate festive atmosphere as customers moved from the street into the Christmas retail experience.

A traditional pine-and-spice fragrance profile was used for the activation, adding a scent layer that complemented the visual merchandising, Christmas displays and wider seasonal theatre already associated with Myer.

The Myer activation was an ad hoc seasonal trial rather than an established national scenting programme. Any broader application across the Myer group remained under discussion following the Christmas period.

What is Christmas scenting for business?

Christmas scenting is the use of seasonal fragrance within a commercial environment to help the space feel aligned with its festive campaign, visual merchandising and customer experience.

For retailers, hotels, shopping centres, offices, hospitality venues and event spaces, Christmas fragrance can become another part of the seasonal environment — alongside decorations, lighting, music, displays and gifting.

Commercial scenting differs from simply placing a candle or domestic diffuser in a room. Professional commercial scenting uses purpose-selected diffuser technology, fragrance intensity and placement to create a consistent scent experience across the areas where it matters most.

Why Christmas is naturally suited to scent

Christmas is already highly sensory. We associate the season with the colour of decorations, the sound of familiar music, the texture of wrapping paper and the taste of seasonal food. Fragrance gives businesses another way to complete that environment.

Notes such as pine, fir needle, cinnamon, clove, citrus, woods, vanilla and resins are strongly recognisable within festive fragrance profiles. Used thoughtfully, they can help a commercial space feel warmer, greener, brighter, more nostalgic or more luxurious depending on the experience the brand wants to create.

That is particularly relevant for retail scent marketing, where Christmas campaigns are often some of the most visually developed and experience-led campaigns of the year.

Scent Australia's Christmas fragrances for 2026

For the 2026 festive season, Scent Australia is offering three Christmas fragrance directions for commercial scenting clients. Each takes a different approach to the familiar scent language of Christmas.

Christmas

A balanced festive composition combining bright citrus, aromatic spice and fresh fir with a resinous woody finish.

• Top notes: Orange, Lemon, Black Pepper
• Heart notes: Bay Leaf, Clove Bud, Fir Needle
• Base notes: Sweet Balm, Wood Sap

Christmas Pine

The greenest and most forest-led of the three options, built around pine and fir with cinnamon, dry woods, moss, patchouli and vanilla underneath.

• Top notes: Camphor, Pine
• Heart notes: Cinnamon Bark, Fir Needle
• Base notes: Dry Woods, Moss, Patchouli, Vanilla

Warm Spicy Cinnamon

A warmer, richer Christmas profile, opening with orange and toasted nuts before moving into clove, cinnamon and star anise over a soft vanilla and musk base.

• Top notes: Orange, Toasted Nuts
• Heart notes: Clove Bud, Cinnamon Bark, Star Anise
• Base notes: Vanilla, Musks

Complimentary Christmas scenting for Scent Australia clients in 2026

Existing Scent Australia commercial scenting clients are being offered complimentary Christmas scenting through their existing diffusers for the 2026 festive season.

That means businesses already using Scent Australia commercial diffusers can temporarily shift their regular fragrance experience into a dedicated Christmas profile, choosing from Christmas, Christmas Pine or Warm Spicy Cinnamon.

The seasonal change gives brands the ability to align fragrance with Christmas visual merchandising, campaigns and in-venue activity without needing to build a separate scenting system for the festive period.

Already a Scent Australia client? Speak with your account manager or contact the Scent Australia team about activating your 2026 Christmas fragrance.

Where can commercial Christmas scenting be used?

Christmas scenting can be adapted to many customer-facing and workplace environments, including:

• Department stores and retail stores — entrances, gifting zones, customer service areas and main retail floors.
• Shopping centres — arrival zones, Christmas installations, Santa experiences and high-traffic common areas.
• Hotels and accommodation — lobbies, reception areas, lounges and festive event spaces.
• Restaurants and hospitality venues — entries, bars, lounges and Christmas function areas.
• Corporate offices — receptions, client areas, end-of-year events and staff spaces.
• Events and activations — branded Christmas experiences, pop-ups, launches and gifting events.

The right approach depends on the size of the space, airflow, visitor journey, desired fragrance intensity and the wider Christmas experience being created.

Christmas scenting does not have to stop at the space

Ambient fragrance can change how a physical environment feels. A scented product can take that experience beyond the venue and into someone's home, office or celebration.

For businesses and individuals looking to create their own Christmas scented products, MUSE The Atelier provides a dedicated platform for developing bespoke scented merchandise. MUSE is a Scent Australia brand, and The Atelier is designed for projects including corporate gifting, client gifts, weddings, events, branded merchandise and products created for resale.

Depending on the project, scented products can include formats such as candles, room sprays, reed diffusers and other fragrance-led brand extensions. Businesses can also explore Scent Australia's broader scented merchandise capabilities.

Explore MUSE The Atelier and create your own scented products →

From Christmas campaign to Christmas experience

Myer's Bourke Street flagship demonstrates why Christmas is such a powerful opportunity for sensory design.

When a retailer is already investing in elaborate windows, themed environments, lighting, gifting, entertainment and seasonal storytelling, fragrance can become part of the same creative system. It does not need to compete with the visual experience. Its role can be quieter: helping the space feel immediately and recognisably festive as customers arrive.

For businesses planning their own Christmas campaigns, the question is no longer simply what will Christmas look like? It can also be what should Christmas feel — and smell — like in our space?

Frequently asked questions about Christmas scenting

What is Christmas scenting?

Christmas scenting is the use of festive fragrance in a commercial or event environment to support the seasonal atmosphere. It can be delivered through professional scent diffusers in retail stores, shopping centres, hotels, offices, hospitality venues and other spaces.

What fragrances are commonly associated with Christmas?

Commercial Christmas fragrances often use combinations of pine, fir needle, cinnamon, clove, citrus, woods, vanilla, moss and resinous notes. The exact composition determines whether the experience feels fresh and forest-like, warm and spicy, bright and citrus-led, or more luxurious and woody.

Can existing Scent Australia clients change their diffuser fragrance for Christmas?

Yes. For 2026, existing Scent Australia commercial scenting clients are being offered complimentary Christmas scenting through their existing diffuser systems, with three seasonal fragrance options available.

Can Christmas scenting work in a large retail store or shopping centre?

Yes. Commercial scenting systems can be planned around larger spaces, specific zones and high-traffic customer journeys. Diffuser selection, positioning and fragrance intensity should be matched to the environment rather than approached as a one-size-fits-all installation.

Can I create custom Christmas candles, diffusers or room sprays for gifting or resale?

Yes. Businesses, event organisers and individuals wanting physical scented products can explore MUSE The Atelier to develop bespoke scented products for gifting, weddings, events, branded merchandise or resale.

When should a business plan its Christmas scenting?

Ideally, Christmas fragrance should be considered alongside the wider festive campaign so it can launch when seasonal visual merchandising, events and customer experiences go live. The exact timing will depend on the business and its Christmas trading calendar.

Make Christmas a full sensory experience

Whether you are scenting a flagship retail store, hotel lobby, shopping centre, workplace, Christmas event or customer experience, Scent Australia can help select the fragrance, diffuser technology and deployment strategy for the space.

Talk to Scent Australia about Christmas scenting →

Looking to create a physical Christmas fragrance product instead? Start your project with MUSE The Atelier →