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VOLUME
A study done in 1066 by Cain - Smith and Curnow demonstrated for the first time the impact of volume on the behaviour of consumers. After having varied the intensity of the sound of a musical background in large-area establishments, they noted that there was no effect on the volume of customer’s purchases, but that people spent more time in the store when the sound intensity was weaker.

Therefore, we spent more time in a place where the music is played at a lower volume.

TEMPO
Effect on movement…
The work of the researcher Millman in 1982 revealed that slow music causes consumers to move about at a leisurely rate, while a quicker tempo generated a faster walking pace.

Effect on customer purchases…
With reference to purchases, a slower tempo stimulated an increase in sales of 38%. A slow tempo also allowed the store to reap a gross margin nearly 15% higher than that obtained with a rapid tempo.

STYLE
An experiment done in a wine shop in 1993 by Areni and Kim clearly demonstrated that the style of music has an effect on the behaviour of customers. The average purchase per customer was $7.43 when classical music was played, but only $2.17 when ‘Top 50” hits were played in the background! The number of bottles purchased wasn’t different, but the quality of what they purchased was a function of the prestige of the classical music. They also demonstrated that playing French music provoked the purchase of French wines, while German music clearly favoured the purchase of German wines.

PERCEPTION OF TIME
In general, it is evident that for all businesses, ambient music is profitable! This is also true for the amount of time spent in the store:

In a Medical centre…
Stratton (1992) demonstrated that ambient music played in a waiting room caused people to evaluate the passage of time in the clinic as less long than they did when no music was played.

In a retail business…
On the West Coast, a chain of groceries changed the genre of music played in the stores during the day in order to relieve the stress of the customers and to make their experience more agreeable. They also realized some positive effects on employee satisfaction.

In shopping malls...
The Ivanhoe Group CDP, a real-estate agency in Montreal, ordered a study in 1999 that proved that slower music caused consumers in their shopping malls to linger longer, and pay more attention to items on sale and advertising material.

In a restaurant…
The results of another study by Millman in 1986. In a restaurant that played rapid tempo music, customers spent an average of 45 minutes at their table, while they spent an average of 56 minutes with the same music, but played at a slower tempo. Clients consumed more drinks $30.50) under the slow tempo music than they did under the rapid ($21.60)..

Another experiment demonstrated that the maximum price customers were prepared to pay in a restaurant could be increased 15% when relaxing music was played, but climbed to more than 27% more when jazz was chosen!

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