How Does Music Affect Our Buying Behavior?
Music plays a HUGE role in what we buy. Sometimes we know when we are being manipulated as shoppers, but this will hopefully open your ears to the world of sonic psychology.
When you are shopping for clothing and hear the pumping music, do you ever feel like you are going to have a good time in the clothes you are about to buy? If not, go try shopping for clothes at Guess, Express, Macy's, Nordstrom, really anywhere that sells clothing.
Qualities of Music That Affect Our Buying Behavior in a Retail Environment
Tempo
The speed of the rhythm of a composition. Tempo is measured according to beats per minute.
Volume
The loudness of a sound, measured in decibels.
Genre
Style or manner. In music, a unique category of composition with similar style, form, emotion, or subject.
Tempo
In 1982, a study for music tempo on buying behavior was conducted in a New York City grocery store.
The study found that when the store played slow music, people spent significantly more time in the store. It's not surprising that they also found a 32% increase in gross profit. Not too shabby! This makes sense in a way because fast music causes a higher amount of arousal leading to much faster paces throughout the store.
Another study was conducted in a restaurant by Caldwell and Hilbert in 1999. Slower music was found to cause customers to spend a significantly higher dollar amount on alcohol with more time spent eating. Faster music led to faster meals and shorter wait times. It's less about which is better or worse, but more to describe how this affects us.
A nicer restaurant you may want to relax at and enjoy more than a fast food restaurant.
Volume
Volume
In 1966, Smith and Curnow did an experiment on the field to see how loudness effects someone's time spent in stores. Loud music led to less time shopping compared to quiet music. The difference in sales isn't large enough to conclude anything.
Loud music also causes females to think less time has passed than actually has.
A study by Yalch and Spangenberg in 1988 found that age moderates the effects of volume. Younger shoppers have a higher tendency to spend more time shopping when music is played in the foreground. Older shoppers spend more time shopping when the music is in the background. It's hard to deduce wether this is a generational cultural norm or an age distinction.
Genre
Genre does in fact have an effect on shopping behavior as well. One study looked at Top-40 music vs classical music in a wine store. Classical music led to more money being spent by shoppers. People didn't buy more bottles, but more expensive bottles.
Other research has found that shoppers buy more holiday-related goods during the holidays when Christmas music is playing in the store. The type of music playing can help direct the shoppers to what kind of goods should be bought. Classical music indicates sophistication leading to a more expensive wine, just as christmas music triggers the holiday shopping spirit.
Conclusions
It's apparent that none of the individual characteristics are responsible for shopper emotion in isolation. It's important to learn and understand how shoppers might be manipulated in a retail environment to purchase certain items that a different music might lead the shopper to something else. Nothing is plain black and white in a store environment and each store might have music causing different effects.
