Music makes the cash registers ring
Who hasn’t experienced it themselves? Once again, you’re struggling through the pedestrian zone on a Saturday afternoon, barely making any progress due to the crowds, stressed out by the noise and shouting in the streets and annoyed by the bags of oncoming pedestrians who keep bumping into you. You enter a store a little worn out and experience how the world around you suddenly becomes calmer and more relaxed. A deep breath, a glance back at the people rushing past the store – and you are happy to let yourself in for the atmospheric ambience without knowing exactly how it comes about. Background music is often an integral part of the store concept and is responsible for this soothing experience. Consciously or unconsciously, it can calm and relax us, but also activate and accelerate us. Studies show that the tempo of background music can influence customers’ walking speed and perception of time. Building on this, scientists from the Research Center for Customer Insight at the University of St. Gallen (FCI-HSG), in collaboration with moodmountain, the Swiss market leader for multi-sensory marketing, have investigated the economic impact of in-store music in retail. In a field experiment, they examined the influence of the tempo and the gender of the background music on the sales generated. The researchers played pop music that differed in terms of tempo (fast versus slow) and tonal gender (major versus minor) in three branches of a Swiss department store chain over a period of four weeks. The effect of the music on hourly sales at various checkouts was then determined. Many influences play a role here: for example, sales vary considerably across the days of the week; significantly more purchases are made on Saturdays than on other days. The weather also has an influence: For example, people are less willing to shop in very hot or cold temperatures or rain than in moderate temperatures and sunshine. All of these effects were taken into account in the study, including the inclusion of hourly weather data from Meteo Switzerland. The results show that both the tempo and the gender of the background music have an influence on sales in the department stores tested. Slow music leads to higher sales than fast music, with slow music in a minor key performing even better than slow music in a major key. The differences in turnover are up to 5%, but vary across the different departments. Apparently, customers can be calmed by slow music in a minor key. Thanks to the pleasant atmosphere, they “shift down a gear”, unconsciously linger longer in the store and make more purchases.
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