In the past, through this column, we have discussed how music influences mood, but did you know that music has also been shown to influence buying behaviour of shoppers? A study published in the Oxford Handbook of Music Psychology found that background music played in stores had three main influences on consumer behaviour – the time spent in a store, the products purchased, and the overall spending. Unsurprisingly for a person who loves music, any music played in a store increases the time spent in a store (which explains why practically all stores have background music).
It has also been found to play a role in customer loyalty, and the association that a person forms in their mind with a particular store or brand. This means that a brand doesn’t only have to think of their visual identity, but also their auditory identity. What kind of music resonates best with their ideal customer? An article in Nature, one of the most influential scientific journals, showed that the type of music played in a grocery store influenced the purchase decisions of customers. On days that French accordion music was played in the wine section of the store, shoppers bought more French wine. On days that German Bierkeller music was played, shoppers bought more German wine.
There are two really interesting things to note here; firstly, shoppers weren’t just slightly more likely to buy wine based on the music, but three times more likely to buy according to the music they heard; secondly, shoppers weren’t aware that the music influenced their buying decisions. Most of us think that we are fully in control of the decisions that we make, and not that we can be subtly influenced by our auditory surroundings. The evidence to the contrary has led marketers to think of music as a tool to deploy while trying to influence consumer behaviour.
Playing music in a store has been found to make people spend more time in a store, but additionally what kind of music can drive the purchases that marketers desire is an emerging area of study and experimentation. Another study by Cambridge University found that listening to (western) classical music led people to spend more while shopping. The assumption made was that people envisioned themselves as more sophisticated and intellectual and were willing to spend more money on products that they considered more sophisticated. So, the next time I come home with an expensive impulse purchase, I know I can blame it on the sophisticated music.