Management personnel in the retail industry have incorporated various ways of influencing customers. The practice involves measures of prompting shoppers to spend more time at a store and purchase more goods, a technique that has led to improved economical benefits through increased sales (Smith & Curnow, 1966). This issue is important as it highlights the measures that retailers can undertake in the quest to increase the number of customers at a store or to influence them to stay longer. It is evident that music has a psychological impact on the shoppers as will be investigated in this paper.
Yalch and Spangenberg (1990) conducted an experiment to evaluate the impact of foreground and background music on apparel shoppers’ behavior in the store. Background music refers to instrumental sounds usually with no vocals that may be recorded especially for business settings like stores. On the other hand, foreground music is played at higher audio levels than the latter, but significantly lower that concert music usually in health clubs and theme parks. Interviews conducted on the shoppers showed that majority preferred foreground music, but their moods and incidence of unplanned purchases were not influenced. The shoppers’ perception of their shopping time varied in the type of music (foreground and background music) as per their ages. The authors also found that the impact of music did not vary with the music type according to age and had little influence with the time of day that customers are in the store shopping. They concluded that music should be varied across different areas of the store in order to appeal to different-aged customers to achieve optimal impact. For example, regarding the choice of music to play in a store, it appears that choosing different types of music to appeal to different-aged customers in different areas of the store is the most appropriate measure for influencing increased sales.
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Yalch and Spangenberg (1993) also studied retail zoning and its impact on shopper behavior of different ages and genders. The authors played three types of music in two departments of the store in 90-minute segments and over a two-week period. The shoppers were interviewed to identify three major factors; their mood, time and money spent, and their perceptions of the store and its products. The findings showed that appropriate type of music would influences making purchases and higher spending. Foreground music influenced middle-aged (25-49) shoppers to spend more money and time shopping while older shoppers (above 50) shopped longer and purchased more when background music was playing. However, the analysis showed that while different music in the store influences differently for particular age, it does not interact with gender: men and women are affected the same by music. The authors also found that the moods of consumers were not predicted by music, but the consumers’ perceptions of the store partially did. Other factors like shopping alone or with a friend, shopping for a particular item or browsing, shopping during the week or on holidays and weekends were found to minimal impact on how customers reacted to the different conditions of music. In this regard, the study concluded that music impacts shopping behavior by stimulating cognitive associations, but does not alter emotional states. The research shows that differentiating music according to departments of the store will help realize a common response among apparel shoppers. It stimulates cognitive associations that prompts the individuals to increase the time spent shopping and the purchases made. Nevertheless, the age distinctions will also realize varying impacts on the practice. The perceptions of the shoppers did not predict their emotional state depending on the music type used.
The previous studies carried out on shopping behavior have shown that environmental factors such as music and scent are effective in ensuring change in emotional states. Yalch and Spangenberg (2000) conducted a simulated shopping experiment to identify the changes in emotional states with time fixed or variable where shoppers are exposed to music which was either familiar or unfamiliar to the individual shopper. The customers reported their perceptions of the shopping duration, moods, and evaluations of products. Customers revealed that they shopped longer when exposed to familiar music, but actually did so when unfamiliar music was playing. In this result, it shows that shorter actual shopping time when familiar music is playing is associated with increased arousal while longer perceived shopping time in the same condition was related to unmeasured cognitive factors.
Smith and Curnow (1966) studied the effect of music on arousing the individual shopper and purchasing behavior. The research extends previous findings of the arousal hypothesis that emphasizes that noise of some degree increases activity. The authors put this theory to the test by playing store music ranging from loud to soft in eight counterbalanced sessions. The experiments are conducted in two large supermarkets with an approximate sample of 1,100 shoppers. The findings showed that less time was spent in the store by shoppers during the loud session as opposed to the soft session. There was insignificant change in sales with only slight increases during soft sessions. The overall satisfaction of the shoppers did not increase substantially during this change. The arousal hypothesis appears to account for the results of the research. The researchers concluded that unless the store music is louder than the auditory comfort, it will not have an impact on the total sales. Additionally, the store manager can manipulate the number of people in the store by increasing or decreasing the volume of the music. Based on previous research, store managers can change between loud and soft music to manipulate the number of shoppers in the store at any given time and the time spent shopping, but the loudness of the music will not have an impact on the total sales of the store.
Soh, Jayaraman, Choo, and Kiumarsi (2015) studied the value added options such as music and ambience that are offered to shoppers at a store and their impacts on shopping behavior. The research focused on the relation between music tempo and time spent in the store through activities of 177 consumers. Three factors that the study sought to determine is whether tempo influenced consumer emotion, duration of stay in a shop, and whether emotions influence stay in a shop. Results showed that fast tempo of background music created more pleasure and arousal of respondents than slow tempo music. The slow tempo music, however, led to longer durations of time spent in supermarket and restaurants, but had no effect on florist, apparel, or book stores. The tempo of music has significant impact on the emotions of a consumer by relaxing them as they go about their daily duties. It is essential for shop managers to understand how music affects consumers in different settings to choose the appropriate music and match with intended purpose. Playing background store music using the ideal tempo to match the goals of the business will help realize the set targets.
So far, I have described how the retailer’s choice of music influences the time and money spent during shopping activities and enhances the experience of the shoppers during this period. One study found that choice of music based on its appeal to customers had affected perceptions of their shopping time based on the type of music and the age of the consumer, but had little impact on predicting their moods and unplanned purchases. The effects of music did not vary with type of music depending on age, or time of day. Another study found that differentiating the type of music with the parts of the store influenced cognitive stimulation of customers to whom the apparel appeals. An alternative study showed that the familiarity of music led to perceived increase in shopping duration despite a shorter actual period, but significantly improved evaluations of the merchandise. The study by Smith and Curnow (1966) found that the loudness of music played affected the duration of time a customer spent in the store, but there was little impact on the purchases made. In this regard, manipulating the music may not be the ideal factor of ensuring positive purchasing behavior. Lastly, the study by Soh, Jayaraman, Choo, and Kiumarsi (2015) showed that music tempo influenced the emotions of a consumer. Nevertheless, the business setting is critical to realizing retail benefits through the correct choice of music and matching with the goals of the shop. Taken as a whole, the research studies showed that controlling certain aspects of music can influence shoppers to increase purchases and time spent shopping. The retailers will not be able to alter the moods of the customers through music, but it can strike arousal in them leading to positive perceptions of the merchandise.
Ultimately, background music has some significant impact when directed at a particular age group and in different sections of a store. With numerous online businesses coming up it would be ideal to identify the effect background music may have in increasing the arousal and pleasure of the online shopper.
References
Smith, P. C., & Curnow, R. (1966). " Arousal hypothesis" and the effects of music on purchasing behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology, 50 (3), 255-256.
Soh, K. L., Jayaraman, K., Choo, L. P., & Kiumarsi, S. (2015). The impact of background music on the duration of consumer stay at stores: An empirical study in Malaysia. International Journal of Business and Society, 16 (2), 247-260.
Yalch, R. F., & Spangenberg, E. (1990). Effects of store music on shopping behavior. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 7 (2), 55-63.
Yalch, R. F. & Spangenberg, E. (1993) ,"Using Store Music For Retail Zoning: a Field Experiment", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 20 , eds. Leigh McAlister and Michael L. Rothschild, Provo, UT : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 632-636.
Yalch, R. F., & Spangenberg, E. (2000). The effects of music in a retail setting on real and perceived shopping times. Journal of Business Research, 49 (2), 139-147.
