Increase your Revenues - We know how Muisc impacts buying behavior.
EVERYONE loves when their favorite song comes on the radio.
Whether you ROCK OUT shamelessly, or quietly acknowledgethe tunes with a head nod. It’s hard to deny people’s universal LOVE for music.
But how does this love for MUSIC impact our buying behavior?
Research suggests : 3 qualities of music impact buying behavior in a retail environment.
#1 Tempo
- In a New York City grocery store, the effect of music TEMPO on shoppers’ buying behaviors was POWERFUL.
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PLAYING SLOW MUSIC LEAD TO…Significantly more time spent in the store. AND a SIGNIFICANT INCREASE in gross product sales when compared to behavior when fast music was playing.
The effects of TEMPO were also explored in a restaurant environment:
- Slow music caused customers to spend a significantly higher DOLLAR AMOUNT on alcohol and spent MORE TIME eating.
- While fast music led to a faster meal and shorter wait times for incoming patrons.
Each of these effects might be wanted in different restaurant environments (ex: a 5-star restaurant versus a late-night diner.
# 2 Volume
- LOUD music leads to less total time spent shopping when compared to soft music.
- And causes females to think less time has passed than actually has.
But, volume does not correlate to how much a shopper purchases.
- Young shoppers are more likely to spend more time shopping when music is being played in the foreground…
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Whereas older shoppers are more likely to spend more time shopping when music is in the background.
Either way, using music volume to influence behavior is not a ‘one size fits all’ tactic.
# 3 Genre
- One study investigated the effect of playing Top-40 pop music versus classical music in a wine store.
- Playing classical music led to MORE money being spent by shoppers.
- Interestingly, the shoppers DID NOT buy more bottles of wine when this music was being played but rather chose the MORE EXPENSIVE bottles.
- During the holiday season, shoppers buy more holidayrelated goods when Christmas music is playing in the store.
- From these findings, it seems the type of music playing can send a signal about what kind of goods should be bought.
Want to learn more about how the nuances of music in a retail environment can affect shopping behavior?