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.
Background music has been depicted to demonstrate significant impact on shopping behavior among customers in supermarkets when the music is directed at a particular age group and in different departments of the store. However, the modern society is embracing a more technologically advanced process of retailing through the development of online stores. The following research will seek to describe the influence of background music in increasing stimulation and gratification of the online shopper. The research proposes that specific types or genres of background music could prime individuals to shift their preferences and buying behavior.
Participants
The research will incorporate a sample population of 100 online shoppers from an ecommerce platform. The online businesses should be a popular destination for the American society. The study will focus on a diverse sample including both men and women participants between the age of 18 and 50 years old from various ethnic backgrounds. The availability of different merchandise products means that the research will identify the effect of background music on the various sectors of shopping that the participants will visit. The experiment will require participants who are capable of navigating the online shopping store without assistance from a third party. The participants should also have stable internet connection to effectively listen to the background music while shopping. The researcher or an observer part of the study will monitor the majority of the shoppers from the apparel and electronics sections which are particularly popular with the younger generations and easily affordable across all socioeconomic levels. The more expensive merchandise like jewelry and home appliances will also be monitored for the behavior of shoppers to make impulse purchases particularly individuals from middle to older adulthood.
Procedure
The researcher will propose the experiment to Amazon, which has a traffic of 197 million visitors per month in the U.S. and it has more than 310 million active customer accounts worldwide, according to the website Statista . The online store will sign a confidentiality form preventing researchers from mentioning them from the particular research. The same will be done by the online shoppers who will have to accept the terms and conditions of undertaking a survey at the end of their shopping period. Three different types of background music will be played in two major segments of classifying the merchandise available and each will appeal differently to customers based on their sex and age. The music will also be directed in such a way it primes the memory of the shopper and may alter the buying behavior. The experiment will be conducted over two hour periods in the morning, afternoon, and late evening hours over a two-week period. In the morning period, soft classical music will be played, in the afternoon a fast tempo funk beat, and in the late evening blues will be played. During the end of each period of the experiment, consumers will be requested to complete a survey on their moods, time and money spent, and their perceptions of the store and the merchandise available. Also at the end of the experiment, the participants will be debriefed by the researcher to discuss the purpose of the study and their results of their survey.
Materials
The experiment will incorporate a variety of materials for use in the study. An electronically generated survey is essential to realizing results. Once the shopper checks out, the survey will pop up to begin the process of identifying gratification and stimulation among other research criteria. The online store is an essential component in the study, and the ecommerce retail store that will be used is Amazon.com . The online store will provide assistance in the setting up of the online survey with the help of five web design undergraduate students. The survey will incorporate questions like the evaluation for the music, a rating scale of how pleased they are with their shopping experience, 1 being highly not satisfied and 5 being highly satisfied, and it will also include the time duration spent and the amount of money spent (See Figure 1 ). The research study will also incorporate the use of past research as it seeks to identify significant information on consumer behavior as it is impacted by background music.
Discussion
As expected, the results from the background music on consumer behavior were positive, and there was an effect on the behavior of the consumer. The majority of the participants, mostly the younger generation did rate being highly pleased with their shopping experience, relating to the background music that was playing. As for the older participants, they mostly rated their experience with the background music was neutral, and that it was relaxing. As for the time duration and the amount of money spent, the responses were mostly the same throughout all the participants, they spent longer on the website then they originally planned too, and along with that, they also spent more.
One significant limitation of this study was that there was not a lot of previous studies relating to this subject. Along with that drawback, most of the studies took place in retail stores and were not tested on e-commerce websites. Another limitation of the study was that we did not gather information the individual participants’ music preference. Also, in this study, we just focused on the variable of background music. So for future studies, it would be best to do a pre-interview discussing the consumer’s music preference, do a meta-analysis over various settings, and look into other variables that are affected by background music.
The results of the study suggest that background music does indeed affect consumer behavior, causing the shopper to stay on the website longer and spend more. The study was overall consistent with the all the research done by Yalch and Spangenberg (1990, 1993, 2000), Smith and Curnow, and Soh , Jayaraman, Choo, and Kiumarsi (2015) who all concluded in their findings that different types of music for different aged consumers is the best technique for better sales for businesses.
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.
