Vladislav L. Digital Audio Marketer

What kind of music will increase sales in your store

We prefer shopping where there is an inviting and comfortable atmosphere. No one likes oppressive silence or sounds of other people's conversations and the creak of carts. Music is one of the indispensable tools of trade.

However, in crisis, savings often begin with music. Sometimes there is an explanation for this - either this is a discount store (although it is discounters that win during a crisis, increasing the number of adherents to save on food or everyday clothes), or the outlet does not want a lot of buyers to accumulate in the hall (this way we will make purchases faster and leave, making room for other buyers).

But sometimes the store really trivially saves on music, not taking into account the real economic damage from such silence, which, for obvious reasons, is difficult to calculate. Some try to preserve the musical arrangement by using so-called copyrighted music, which is often only partially protected, and in many cases its quality isn’t good. So, domestic authors dissect low-quality samples to create their own works, with virtually no vocals and no live instruments, and many sound engineers do not hesitate to rearrange famous world hits, simply by swapping the beats in the main melody. At the same time, a picky buyer immediately feels a catch when he hears one and the same fragment that is almost looped, which sometimes sounds in a circle for ten minutes in a row.

And how much higher the brand's appreciation rises when you hear good music, calm, relaxing, which can be defined as sophisticated. Proper musical accompaniment increases sales up to 18-20%. When the music is removed from the hall, sales at the first time still remain at the same level, because the habit is in effect and people continue to come to the same store, and then they fall, as some of the buyers begin to go to other stores, and some simply quickly make necessary purchases and leaves, experiencing a strange feeling that something is already wrong with the store.

If pleasant high-quality music with current hits sounds in a fast fashion store, then the goods there will be perceived as fashionable and in demand by customers. This effect is even more obvious when the store is located not in a big city, but in the provinces so the buyer will immediately feel like a part of the modeling world and want to be in the trend of today.

Some musical directions, for example, in the style of deep house, future house, lounge or future jazz, will emphasize the exclusivity of your fashion brand style. As an example of the real impact of music, Douglas Rushkoff, author of Coercion: Why We Listen to What They Say, argues that in US department stores, slow music makes shoppers spend 18% more time and spend 17% more, and grocery stores spend 17% more on 38% buy more to slow music than to fast music.

What we hear today in our large supermarkets is often not at all suitable for creating a suitable atmosphere, because instead of good music of medium-slow tempo in the style of contemporary pop with modern hits and popular songs of the last few decades, barely audible sounds in the style of karaoke. You cannot consider your visitors indifferent to music, thinking that they will listen to everyone anyway and will come for groceries anyway.

Good music will add a sense of quality and freshness to your products. But in household appliances stores, a slightly different format should be used. Since the sales assistants work with the buyers, the music should be in the style of easy pop, in which electro pop will work well with the style of brit pop. This will promote the sale of audio and video equipment, and will not overload the buyer with unnecessary emotions, presented in abundance on various television screens and monitors.

Perhaps this is right, because it creates a general good mood, but I would like to recommend, on the contrary, to forget that music should be special, as many sports brands do, so as not to merge with the world, losing their face. There are other interesting options, for example, one modern shopping center decided to celebrate the New Year with the heroes of Star Wars by launching tracks from the movie expected in December.

It is worth combining New Year's music with the usual one in order to give a certain color to the musical arrangement in December and January. The influence of music on the physical condition of a person should also be taken into account as the number of beats per second is important for heart rate, pulse, normal breathing, hormonal levels in the body, and even for blood sugar levels; improve the psychological state of the buyer, forming an individual mood by combining complex and simple music, its tempo (fast or slow), minor or major tone, as well as due to the volume and sound quality. And when people feel better, they always tend to stay longer and return to this place more often to experience the pleasant sensations again.

It is very important to properly design the sound architecture inside the retail space and use good acoustic equipment if you want to emphasize that your business is at a decent level and is completely healthy. With this knowledge, it seems superfluous to say that you should not use fire alarm systems for playing music, which are designed for voice notification and give out a flat, low-quality sound, because these rattling melodies cause nothing but irritation to either buyers or sellers.

To illustrate, here is just one example of the influence of music.

Clients of one large foreign bank constantly felt that they were not cared for, treated inattentively, that they spent too much time in the queue, that they were not very comfortable in a quiet office that looked like an aquarium: glass and cold.

In search of a solution to the problem, the bank decided to seek the help of music experts to save the day. As a result, after analyzing the composition of clients, their complaints, the time of their stay, the specialists came to the conclusion that the office needs music that is not too fast, moderately complex and recognizable enough, due to which the atmosphere will become more friendly and warm.

And if in a supermarket, for example, recognition is not always needed, since familiar words distract from shopping (especially if they sound in their native language), then in a bank, this turned out to be very useful, because it allowed people to perceive the waiting time in line much shorter, despite that overall it hasn't changed.

Result? According to the perception of customers, the quality of service has doubled and, by the way, the bank's profit has increased by 10 percent, solely due to the pace of the music playing in the hall. What is it? The service was already of high quality, it just needed music to help customers fully experience it.

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