THE RELATIONSHIP OF MUSIC-RETAIL CONSISTENCY

For over forty years, research has shown that store “atmospherics” can have an impact on consumer responses. As other marketing tools become neutralized in the competitive battle, atmospherics is likely to play a growing role in the unending search of firms for differential advantage.

A review of the atmospherics literature designated a “general interior” category of independent variables which includes music, sounds, lighting, scents, color, temperature, and other variables (e.g. wall textures and flooring/carpeting). The review found that music is the most frequently studied atmospheric variable.

Atmospheric (e.g. ambient) music has been shown to influence consumers in numerous ways in both retail and service environments such as: time spent, perceived waiting time, perceived event duration, product choice, desire to affiliate in buyer-seller transactions, perceptions of salespeople, evaluation of service encounters including perceived time/effort costs, psychic costs, perceived monetary prices, perceived product and service quality, waiting and perceptions of time, and sales for an extensive review of music, mood and marketing. In addition, research has also focused upon the atmospheric element of lighting.  A study showed the influence of instore lighting on consumers’ examination of merchandise in a wine store.

Research also showed that supplemental lighting during an in-store experiment and manipulated lighting with merchandise displays to test for effects on consumer approach behaviors including time spent and interaction with the products. A recent industry study showed store atmospherics and consumers discovered that consumers tend to classify different elements of store atmospherics into three levels: basic store conditions, passive atmospherics (which include lighting and other elements), and active atmospherics (which include music and other interactive stimuli).

The trade research concluded that the combination of these types of elements determines the retailers’ strategic positioning and ultimately, its competitive advantage. The study found that lighting followed store cleanliness as the second most important element in consumers’ patronage decisions.

In-store stimuli that induce arousal . almost certainly include bright lighting and upbeat music. A study of consumer mood in clothing stores found consumer moods had a positive relationship with store image, number of items purchased, amount of money spent, unplanned purchases, and more time spent in the store than planned. They recommended: “if small capital investments are all that are necessary to positively affect consumers’ moods and their store image,  (then) changing the store’s light level or playing music which would appeal to the clientele would be well worth the effort”. Also, research found that classical music along with soft lighting and multiple salespeople generated an upscale retail image, which produced higher consumer ratings of service and quality.

There is also an abundance of research in marketing and store atmospherics which reflects a consistency theory perspective. Retail industry anecdotes from store managers and music retail consulting firms recognize the importance of consumer perceptions of consistency between in-store music and the retail environment.