THE INFLUENCE OF MUSIC ON CONSUMER PURCHASE BEHAVIOR
IN RETAIL ENVIRONMENT
Eduardo
Biagi Almeida Santos
Universidade
Nove de Julho, Brazil
E-mail:
eduardo-biagi@hotmail.com
Otávio
Bandeira De Lamônica Freire
Universidade
Nove de Julho, Brazil
Universidade
de São Paulo, Brazil
E-mail:
otaviofreire@uninove.br
Submission:
30/07/2013
Revision:
13/08/2013
Accept:
14/08/2013
ABSTRACT
This present
paper shows the influence of music used in a retail environment in relation to
consumer behavior. For obtaining the information, we based this research on a literature
review in national and international journals, by 4 databases including:
Proquest, EBSCO Host, CAPES periódicos and Mendeley, in the period of 2008 and
2012, by the keywords: music behavior, music in retail environment, background
music, music consumer, environmental music, music and consumer behavior and
music in purchase decision. The use of music has been applied in traditional
areas such as psychology, trough the discipline of environmental psychology
(DONOVAN; ROSSITER, 1982); marketers use this tool as a motivator in a purchase
decision in different shopping environments. This paper shows that there is an
influence of background music in purchase decision but it’s still needs an
explanations of some variables. At the end this paper will present some
suggestions for future research.
Keywords: music in purchase decision, music
in retail, consumer behavior, background music, music and consumer.
1.
INTRODUCTION
The
use of music has been studied in traditional areas such as psychology, on
issues such as learning and human behavior. Marketers use this feature as a
motivator in the purchase decision of consumers shopping in different
environments due to easy way of manipulation of the music and the fact that
music isn’t offensive to the consumer.
Kotler
(1973) exposed in his paper that the tangible product or service was only a
small portion of the total consumption, the other part filled by the local
atmosphere or from which the product was purchased or consumed and, in some
cases, the atmosphere is primary product. Atmosphere as a marketing tool is
defined by Kotler as a space consciously created to create certain effects on
consumers and influence their purchase decision; the atmosphere consists of various
elements such as brightness, size, smell, temperature, music, softness,
smoothness and shape. The literature review done by Kellaris (2008) shows us
that music was heavily used in consumer environments as motivating. In
addition, the store, elements such as lighting, color, style or music may have
more immediate effects on decision making than marketing inputs that are not
sent at the time of purchase (BAKER, GREWAL, PARASURAMAN, 1994).
In
1982, Donovan and Rossiter adapted the model PAD (Pleasure, Dominance and
Activation) to retail as a way to better study the relations
environment/behavior from consumer with focus on the approach/remoteness using
a scale of 36 items measuring consumer emotions. It is considered approaching
behavior the desire to stay in the environment, tendency to explore and
interact, the desire to communicate with others, feelings of satisfaction with
the experience and purchase intent. The behavior of remoteness is the desire to
leave the environment, tend to ignore the details of the environment, a sense
of dissatisfaction and low purchase intent (FERREIRA, 2007).
2.
RESEARCH METODOLOGY
The
purpose of this study is to do a literature review of national and
international papers during the period 2008 - 2012 with the objective to understand
what has been studied in this area.
A
total of 4 databases were searched including: Proquest, EBSCO Host, CAPES
periódicos and Mendeley. The keywords were: music behavior, music in retail environment,
background music, music consumer, environmental music, music and consumer
behavior and music in purchase decision. References from bibliographies were
also examined to identify further studies, also, was made a search through
Google Scholar using the same keywords.
3.
ATMOSPHERICS
The
first study to consolidate the term “atmospherics” was Kotler (1973) in his
paper “Atmospherics as a marketing tool”. This term starts from the principle
that the people respond beyond the stimuli coming from the product itself, all
the others objects that is present in the environment influences their
decision. Atmospherics is the effort to design buying environments to produce
specific emotional effects in the buyer that enhance his purchase probability
(KOTLER, 1973), the atmosphere at the store not influence just emotional but
the consumer’s acts, and consumer’s reaction to the environmental stimuli, in
terms of perceived time and how fast or how slow the consumer will drink
(GUÉGUEN, JACOB, 2010; MACIEL, et al, 2010; BROEKEMIER, MARQUARDT, GENTRY, 2008;
GUÉGUEN, et al, 2008; VACCARO, et al 2011). Kotler divides atmosphere in four
senses, the first one is the visual dimension (color, brightness, size and
shape), the second one is aural dimension (volume and pitch), the third one is
the olfactory dimension (scent and freshness) and last one is the tactile
dimension (softness, smoothness and temperature), the fifth sense, the taste,
does not apply to atmosphere, because the atmosphere cannot be tasted.
Berman
and Evans (1995 apud TURLEY, MILLIMAN, 2000) divide atmospheric stimuli in four
categories of variable, Turley and Milliman (2000) increases one more (human
variables) to improve the research in this area and to evolve a major
comprehension of the phenomena.
4.
MUSIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
The
purpose of this section is to introduce theory behind many studies relating
music (atmospheric variable) with consumer.
The
relationship between environment and behavior, have been studied by
psychologists trough the discipline of environmental psychology (DONOVAN,
ROSSITER, 1982).
However,
environmental psychology was heavily used in the matter of approach and avoidance
- based on the paradigm SOR (Stimulus - Organism - Response) which suggests
that environmental stimuli results in behaviors of approach and avoidance. Donovan,
et al (1994) describe a stimulus – organism – response as a paradigm “…
relating features of the environment to approach – avoidance behaviors within
the environment, mediated by the individual’s emotional states aroused by the
environment” (p. 284). Approach are positive responses to the environment in
which the person feels the need to stay in that environment and explore it, the
behavior of avoidance manifests itself when the person does not want to stay in
the store or spend time watching or exploring the store (TURLEY, MILLIMAN,
2000). Approach – Avoidance are considered to have four aspects by Mehrabian
and Russell (1974 apud DONOVAN, ROSSITER, 1982) all these aspects describe the
consumer behavior in a retail environment.
One
of the models developed to measure approach/avoidance was known as PAD model
(Pleasure, Arousal and Dominance). The model consist in three emotional
dimensions: Pleasure – dimension that refers to how the consumer feels good,
happy and satisfied; Arousal – dimension refers to the degree that the consumer
feels stimulated, alert or active towards the situation presented; and finally,
Dominance – dimension that refers to how the individual feels dominated or free
to act towards the situation, this model was developed by Mehrabian & Russell
(1974 apud DONOVAN, ROSSITER, 1982). Those three dimensions was divided by 36
items, contented – depressed, happy –
unhappy, satisfied – unsatisfied, pleased – annoyed, relaxed – bored, important
– insignificant, free – restricted, hopeful – despairing, stimulated – relaxed,
excited – calm, jittery – dull, aroused – unaroused, frenzied – sluggish,
overcrowded – uncrowded, wideawake – sleepy, controlling – controlled, dominant
– submissive and influential – influenced.
The PAD model has a conditional interaction between pleasure and
arousal, so, in a neutral environment, moderate arousal enhances approach
behaviors, whereas very low or very high arousal leads to avoidance behavior.
In a pleasant environment, the greater arousal, the greater approach behavior,
in an unpleasant environment, the higher the arousal, the greater the avoidance
behavior (DONOVAN and ROSSITER, 1982).
In
retail context the emotional dimension pleasure and arousal indicates higher
tendencies for consumers to react positively. From this theoretical proposal
the vast majority of papers found that relate music and consumer behavior use
this theory to explain their results (EROGLU, MACHLEIT, 2008).
5.
MUSIC AND CONSUMER
In
topics like consumer psychology music is used to provide a memory recall,
information process, attitude formation, emotion, etc. (KELLARIS, 2008). Bitner
(1992 apud MARCELINO, et al, 2011) says that when the environment is pleasant
the consumer tend to be more comfortable, stay more time in the store, be more
available to spend more than calculated by him, and come back to the store at a
later moment in time. In consumer research music is treated as an independent
variable or stimulus because influences a wide variety of cognitive, affective
and consumer behavior (KELLARIS, 2008; GUEGUEN, JACOB, 2010; ANDRADE, BARBOSA,
2009).
Table
1 is a summary table of the studies between 2008 and 2012 relating music and
consumer.
Table
1 – Summary table of studies relating music and consumer purchase behavior
Citation |
Sample |
Design |
Independent variables |
Dependent Variables |
Broekemier, Marquardt and Gentry (2008) |
126 subjects |
Laboratory experiment |
Music (Happy - Sad) |
-
Shopping intention |
Andrade and Barbosa (2009) |
52 women’s, including customer and employees |
Field experiment |
Music |
- Time perception |
- Return intention |
||||
Guéguen and Jacob (2010) |
120 customers (48 males and 72 females) |
Field experiment |
Musical style |
- Amount of time |
- Amount of
money |
||||
Maciel, et al
(2010) |
782 customers ( 393 males and 389 females) |
Field experiment |
Musical style |
- Time perception |
- Mood |
||||
- Return intention |
||||
Marcelino, et
al (2011) |
782 customers (393 males and 389 females) |
Field experiment |
Music |
Approach – Avoidance (PAD Model) |
Mandila and Gerogiannis (2012) |
200 subjects |
Cross – sectional research |
Music style |
- Time spent |
- Money spent |
||||
- Satisfaction |
||||
Andersson, et
al (2012) |
550 subjects |
Field experiment |
- No Music/Music Slow tempo - Fast tempo - |
- Time spent |
- Approach – Avoidance (PAD Model) |
||||
- Money spent |
||||
Vaccaro, et al
(2009) |
248 students |
Field Study (Survey) |
- Music - Scent |
- Time spent |
- Product involvement |
||||
- Store image |
||||
- Behavioral intent |
||||
Lai and Chiang (2012) |
30 subjects |
Experiment |
- Background music |
- Pleasure and arousal |
- Approach / Avoidance |
||||
Guéguen, et al
(2008) |
40 beer drinkers |
Field Experiment |
- Environmental music (High versus slow tempo and different styles) |
- Numbers of drinks ordered |
- Amount of time spent to drink each glass of beer |
||||
- The number of gulps for each glass |
||||
Vaccaro, et al
(2011) |
248 subjects |
Field Study (Survey) |
- Background Music |
- Three emotion dimensions (happy, sad and irritating) |
- Prior shopping experience |
||||
- Return patronage intentions in retail and service settings |
||||
Cheng, Wu and Yen (2009) |
128 subjects |
Laboratory experiment |
- Music (fast and slow) - Color (warm and cool) |
- Pleasure and Arousal |
Guéguen
& Jacob (2010) conducted a study in a flower shop where consumers were
exposed to an environment with romantic songs, pop songs (songs usually played
at florists) and no music. The result was that consumers spent more time in the
store when romantic music was played, but found no correlation between romantic
music, pop music and music-free environment when the chosen factor was the
average ticket spending by consumers.
The
study of Broekemier, Marquardt and Gentry (2008) sought to determine which of
the two dimensions of music, happy - sad or within the popular music/non
popular, had significant effects on the purchase intention. The research showed
that when respondents were exposed to the dimension happy - sad, there was a
direct effect on purchase intent; purchase intent however was higher when
played happy music/popular music.
Vaccaro,
et al (2009) investigate through a field study the relationship of consumer perceptions of the atmospherics elements scent and
music-retail consistency on consumer responses of product involvement, store
image, behavioral intentions and time spent in retail and service environment.
The participants of this study visit a variety of stores and services providers
to assess the atmospherics and recorded their responses in a questionnaire, the
results was analyses by a multiple regression and shows that music and scent
was statistically significant with time spent.
Andrade
and Barbosa (2009) investigated the effect of music on motivation and behavior
of sellers and influence on perception and consumer behavior in a women's
clothing store. Questionnaires were given to customers, vendors and cashiers - stockers,
creating three situations, the first and the third playing music alternating
with the usual music in store, and the second situation playing a disc with
songs taken as a family (international soundtracks). The results showed a
positive relationship to the items related to purchase intention and intention
to return to the store. When played songs taken as familiar, the perception of
time remained in the shop was below the other two situations.
When
it concerns the relationship between musical style, satisfaction and the amount
of money spent in the store, the kind of music don’t have influences in the
amount of money that consumers plan to spend, but the musical style jazz and
lounge music has strong influence and makes consumers spend more (MANDILA,
GEROGIANNIS, 2012). Also found in this same study, the fact that the volume of
music and gender affect consumer satisfaction.
Other
studies have related musical genres with the perception of time that the
consumer stays in the store (differentiating male and female), the mood of the
consumer during the shopping experience, the decision to return to the store
(MACIEL; et al 2010), and attitude approach/remoteness (MARCELINO; et al 2011).
Both studies used as music genres forró, gospel, soul and axé. The first
demonstrated that there are significant differences in perception of time
remained in the store over the musical style (axé with more score and soul with
lower score). With respect to gender (male and female), men are less sensitive
to variations in musical rhythm. With regard to the gender of the consumer mood
axé was what caused less positive feelings consumers of both sexes, and the
case of the probability of return, the musical genre that got the axé was the
lowest average.
The
second study was based on the model PAD (Pleasure, Dominance and Activation) of
Mehrabian and Russell (1974, apud DONOVAN, ROSSITER, 1982) adapted to retail by
Donovan and Rossiter (1982), which consists of 36 items distributed in 18
sensations and demonstrated that the gospel music genre caused a higher level of
approximation for both sexes.
Also
based on PAD model, Andersson, et al (2012) sought to explore whether music
played in retail environment affects consumer behavior using gender
(male/female) as moderator. The results showed that female consumers were more
positive when present in the environment without music or slow songs, and male
consumers were more positive when present in the environment with music and
fast-paced music. An interesting point found in research is that the music has
negatively affected the level of satisfaction, but consumers tended to increase
the average ticket in an environment with music.
Guéguen,
et al (2008) studied the effect of environmental music on beer consumption. The
experiment was conducted in two bars in the west of
Lai
and Chiang (2012) purposes on their study a method for placement background
music on shopping website and examine the effect on user’s emotions and
cognitive responses. They manipulate background music in an online bookstore
playing the music by 2 min, 4 min and 6 min, with a constant volume (60db).
When the background music was played after browsing could induce higher
pleasure, arousal and approach behavior. When the background music was played
at the start of browsing the participants showed less pleasure and arousal.
Cheng,
et al (2009) show in their paper the effect of ambient factors (music and
colors) in physical stores and the website design. They relate two environmental
variables (music and color) and two dependent constructs (pleasure and
arousal), the method used was experiment 2x2 (music tempo: fast / slow x color
hue: warm / cool). The study was conducted on 128 subjects interacting on a web
page and after responding to a questionnaire containing 12 – item semantic
differential scale (pleasure and arousal model). The results showed that
participants felt more aroused and pleased under the fast music condition than
those exposed to the slow music condition, when participants were exposed to
warm color condition they reveal a higher level of arousal than those exposed
to cool color condition.
Vaccaro,
et al (2011) examined the relationship of liked atmospheric music with consumer
perceptions of three emotion dimensions (happy, sad, and irritating), prior
shopping experience, and return patronage intentions in retail and service
setting. 248 participants visited some retail and services stores and answered
a survey with questions about liked mood, music dimensions, avoid return
patronage and prior retail patronage. The results of this study show that liked
music is significantly related to consumer’s prior shopping experience, and
liked music is correlated with emotion’s dimension, so, when subjects heard
happy and “liked” music they had highest shopping intentions.
6.
CONCLUSION
The
purpose of this study is to do a literature review of national and
international papers during the period 2008 - 2012 with the objective to
understand what has been studied in this area.
According
to Kim and Kim (2012) “… retailers continually manage and control their stores’
physical atmospherics. The influence of physical surroundings in retail stores
is considered a very important issue for retailers in that retail environmental
cues…” (p. 818). The influence of music on consumer behavior has been
demonstrated in studies involving the purchase decision of the consumer and his
stay at the point of sale. One commonality found in studies was that when music
is regarded as familiar to the consumer, it brings more positive responses in
relation to purchase intention, the perceived time, the approach/remoteness,
satisfaction and average ticket spending (ANDRADE, BARBOSA, 2009; MACIEL, et al
2010; MARCELINO, et al, 2011; VACCARO, et al, 2009; LAI, CHIANG 2012; GUÉGUEN, et
al, 2008; VACCARO, et al 2011; GUÉGUEN, JACOB 2010). Another important point to
emphasize is that the consumer is affected differently when separated by
gender. Women have been shown to be more sensitive in the buying decision depending
on the genre than men.
As
demonstrated in this study, there are few national studies linking music with
consumer behavior. Some suggestions for future research are to relate this
issue with the dimension consumer loyalty, and change the locations of the
experiment, whereas there are several covariates that may influence the
response to the music. An example is the study conducted by Mandila and
Gerogiannis (2012) in a coffee bar environment, where the authors found as
covariant the number of people present in the coffee bar during the study.
Consumers evaluate better the entertainment and elegance issues of the place
when there were 3 or more people present in environment.
Table
1 shows that the most used dependents variables are: shopping intention, time
perception, return intention, amount of time, amount of money, mood, approach /
avoidance, time spent, satisfaction, money spent, product involvement, pleasure
and arousal and return patronage intention. Turley and Milliman (2000)
increased one more variable in atmospherics variables based on Berman and Evans
(1995 apud TURLEY, MILLIMAN, 2000) there was external variables (e.g. exterior
signs, entrances, size of building), general interior variables (e.g. music,
lightning, temperature, color), layout and design variables (e.g. space design,
waiting areas, department locations), point of purchase and decoration
variables (e.g. point of purchase displays, signs and cards, wall decorations)
and human variables (e.g. employee characteristics, employee uniforms,
crowding), other suggestion is to relate music with some human variables to try
to discover if some characteristics of the employees combining with background
music or environmental music can increase or decrease arousal and what effect
can be induced on customers.
Another
point described by others review is that there is a necessity to go beyond the
S-O-R Paradigm and approach / avoidance paradigm (KELLARIS, 2008; TURLEY,
MILLIMAN, 2000; EROGLU, MARCHLEIT, 2008) to expand the theories or create another
one that can give some other explanation found in experiments. Kellaris (2008)
says that “…to understand the potential influences of music, researchers must
get inside shopper’s heads and examine how music influences cognitive processes
that shape evaluations, preferences, and choices” (p. 841).
7.
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