What music sounded!

The pre -science and New Year's excitement, related to the purchases of gifts for relatives and friends, barely ended. And for sure, when you scoured shopping in search of the right product, music sounded there. As you know, the melody sounding in stores and restaurants affects not only the time spent by the client in the institution, and the assessment of the service level, but also affects the quantity and cost of purchases made. There are many scientific publications devoted to the influence of the pace of music, volume, tonality, popularity and style (classic, country, hip-hop, etc.) for consumer behavior.

However, the impact of the musical style is more difficult to assess than other parameters, for it is subjective. The attempt to objectively assess the influence of style has been engaged in Australian psychologists from the University of Kurtin and the Higher School of Management McCoori for several years. Recently, they put three laboratory experiments, which showed that consumers are more willing to buy goods to music, the style of which is associated in their minds with the national or social belonging of the proposed product or its utilitarian purpose.

According to Australian scientists, background music affects the choice of products, activating certain memories (associations). The researchers called such a phenomenon a musical congruent . Once the Association “Music - Product” can then be activated again and again, influencing the choice of the product and the willingness to buy it.

Scientists illustrate the effect of congruence with their own data obtained during research in wine stores. They advise sellers of French wines to lose French music in the store, which creates a “French” atmosphere and can affect sales. Even if the client leaves the store without a bottle of wine, he will have a feeling of authenticity of products and an idea of ​​the conscientiousness of the merchant.

However, if the store sells wines from different countries, then the music must be varying depending on which wine it is desirable to draw the attention of the buyer. If the wines differ in prices, the classic will draw attention to more expensive varieties, and modern popular music is more democratic. Thus, alternating, for example, German classics and modern French music, you can influence the sales of several wines at the same time. For supermarkets selling a very wide range of alcohol products, the situation is even more difficult.

It was such an association - the influence of national music on the choice of national cuisine - was the first experiment. It was attended by 120 students, for some reason Scottish. They gave out money and sent to one of the four halls, where the characteristic American, Chinese or Indian music sounded or it was not at all.

Students were offered a menu of 30 dishes: 10 American, Indian and Chinese, listed in random order. All dishes were the same, their names were accompanied by photographs. Five minutes later, each participant had to choose one dish. As scientists expected, young Scots chose mainly Indian dishes to Indian music, Chinese-Chinese, in the rest of the two cases, they preferred an American west: hamburgers, hot dogs, and a nickname pizza.

The association between ethnic music (the nationality of the performed melodies did not cause doubts in the subjects) and national cuisine - one of the simplest. But products such as washing powder, toothbrush or gold chain have no nationality.

Musical associations with such goods should be more complex. What?

Australian scientists, planning experiments, relied on existing data. It is known, for example, that classical music is connected in the minds of most people with elegance, high style and education. For such music, people assess the quality of service higher, more willingly fork out in stores and restaurants and buy more expensive things. On the contrary, country -style music sets up the mind to household problems associated with the life of the family.

In the second experiment, 180 Scottish students took part. They were seated by one for monitors and showed images of 10 objects that allow their owner to attribute to a certain social group (congratulatory postcard, unisex bracelet, portrait photography from the graduation evening, icon, cologne unisex, gold earrings, an ornament with a university logo, hair styling, registered stickers and a pack of temporary tattoos), or 10 household goods (packaging of aspirin, ice cream, cough syrup, pocket fan, orange juice, toothbrush, disposable ballpoint handle, dishwasher, white towel and light bulb). At the same time, classical music or country melody sounded in the headphones of students.

After looking at the slide, the subjects decided how much they were ready to pay for each thing. In this case, it is important that the proposed status goods did not have utilitarian purposes, unlike, say, from a mobile phone. Immediately before this experiment, half of the subjects received a kind of associative vaccination. To the sounds of classical music, they were shown symbols of a luxurious life: expensive cars and royal castles, and country music was accompanied by drawings in which men chop firewood, people wash the car or use hygiene products.

Under country, students paid more for household goods than classics, and classical music is stronger than country, encouraged them to spend money on emblems, bracelets and hair gel. The effect was more pronounced among those participants in the experiment who pre -created the relevant associations. They were ready to overpay by half a pound - a pound more compared to the participants in the experiment that did not pass preliminary processing.

When students made their choice in silence, they were no longer ready to lay out the maximum price for any group of goods. Therefore, the behavior of buyers in this case is affected by the associations that arise when listening to certain music.

By the way, about her. Scientists used excerpts from five classic works: Vyvaldi's Violi Violin's Celest Concert, Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, Elgar's Cello, Assy Nessun Dorma (“Let no one sleep”) from Puccini’s opera Turandot and Khabaner’s aria from the opera of Biza Carmen.

Without bulbs and toothbrushes, it is much more difficult to live than without bracelets, but bracelets must be sold. Therefore, scientists continued to study the factors that distinguish between extra expenses, and put the third experiment. 360 students from all over Great Britain attracted him. They were demonstrated by the status objects already known to us for classical music, for light melodies performed by the James Last orchestra or without music in general.

Half of the subjects before the experiment admired the classical music by royal palaces, luxurious resorts and thoroughbred horses or more mundane paintings: traditional places of rest for the British, terrace houses and cows. In addition, the participants were given different times to think about an acceptable price: to whom for a minute, and to whom 5 seconds.

The results showed that listening to classical music during assessing status objects increases the desire to pay for them, and this effect intensifies when the subjects previously listened to classical music and at the same time looked at images associated with luxurious life. And if there was no time for thought, classical music intensified the desire to pay regardless of preliminary preparation.

Australian researchers assure that their experiments have brought the theoretical base to a well -known phenomenon. Properly selected music increases sales, as it reminds the buyer of familiar products and causes associations with a prestigious lifestyle. But the musical accompaniment, not suitable for the product, reduces sales, and it is better to do without it.

Most often, the musical incentive acts when buying status items and when choosing one of several goods that are equally familiar. If we are talking about the sale of household goods, one of which is better known and familiar to the buyer, music will not help sellers. It is naive to think that, having heard a familiar melody, a person will immediately run to buy the products with which it is associated by despising his own experience and preferences.

However, the influence of music can be strengthened without giving the buyer time for thought. To do this, it is not necessary to rush the client and repeat to him that the sale ends in half an hour. One of the effective techniques is to create a crowd in the store. The octave of Moore, the hero of the novel by Emil Zolya “Damian Happiness”, also knew about this. Wanting to increase the influx of customers to his store, he placed the shelves in such a way that a crush formed at the entrance. The audience was breaking.

So, correctly selected music, formed and regularly renewed associations and the absence of time for thought for thought - and the music will not pay at all who orders it.

North A. S., Sheridan LP, Areni CS Music Congruity Effects on Product Memory, Perception, and Choice // Journal of Retailing. 2015. DOI: 10.1016/J.Jretai 2015.06.001