How the Right In Store Music Raises Morale and Inspires More Purchasing

How the Right In Store Music Raises Morale and Inspires More Purchasing

Music can affect the moods of the listeners. It can make you happy when you’re down, make you feel absolute sadness when you have a broken heart, or make you dance. This is why it can be a powerful tool that you can use in-store if you want to influence your customers, without them knowing it, and their buying decisions as well as boost your employees’ morale. If you choose just the right music, your customers might decide to stay longer than they intend to or to buy something that wasn’t really in their shopping list. That’s how effective it is a tool, according to some studies.

How In-Store Music Is Used

Here are some everyday examples of how effective music is in setting the right atmosphere for your store to attract more customers:

  • A toy store has upbeat music or even nursery songs that compliment the children who come into the store and point at toys for their parents to buy.
  • A restaurant has soothing music with soft tones that supports the subtle lighting it uses for a more relaxing ambience.
  • A progressive fashion store usually has the latest dance music to get you into the mood to buy the hip clothes they are selling.

Importance of In-store Music

Silence doesn’t compliment any retail setting. It reminds people to be quiet as well, just as how they would behave in a hospital or library. Some might not even bear the silence and leave for another store where there’s music and where they can relax and be comfortable while roaming around the store.

If you play songs with a slower tempo, your customers might walk around more slowly. This can give them plenty of time to browse through your items or to go back to those items that they were considering before but skipped over. This kind of music is often played in grocery stores because this is where the most cases of impulse buying happen. If the customers walk slower, they can take a better look at the items on the shelves and be reminded that they need those even if they aren’t on the list.

But as the stores are about to close, music with increased tempo may influence customers to move faster. They would hurry to reach the checkout counter more quickly.

Studies Supporting the Use of In-store Music

There are various researches that were conducted on the effect of in-store music on the customers’ behaviours, particularly those of Jennifer McKendrick, Adrian North, and David Hargreaves in 1997 and 1999. Here are the results of their studies:

  • Customers in a sport retail store thought of it as cool and modern when upbeat music was played and saw it as the opposite when slow rock music was used.
  • Customers in a bar associated their feelings about the music being played with their perception of the bar.
  • Employees processed more vouchers on days when the voucher processing centre played fast music than on days when slow or no music was played.
  • Customers bought more German wine when German music was played and more French wine when French music was played. When asked, they didn’t even know that music affected their buying decision at all.

If you want to be more effective in increasing your sales, you may want to create a playlist to suit the taste of your customers. You may also work with a company that can combine music and your special instore advertisements to convince customers further to shop at your store or take advantage of a promotion currently running. These companies are experienced in studying your customer demographics to develop a music experience that reinforces your store’s image, while also making the customers enjoy their shopping experience with you.

Image courtesy of [digitalart] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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