Title: Music motivates impulse buyers, not thoughtful shoppers
Headings: Music motivates impulse buyers, not thoughtful shoppers
In Brief
Music motivates impulse buyers, not thoughtful shoppers

Content: http://www.apa.org/monitor/nov05/music
Comment: People who tend to make unplanned purchases spend even more freely when shopping in the presence of background music, while contemplative shoppers buy slightly less than usual when music is playing. However, when a pleasant citrus smell pervades a store, non-impulsive buyers spend more, while impulsive shoppers spend less, reported Maureen Morrin, PhD, at APA's 2005 Annual Convention. All types of shoppers purchase less than usual when in the presence of both scent and music, perhaps due to sensory overload, Morrin's as-yet-unpublished research indicates. "This could be a caveat for managers--don't throw everything you have at your customers," says Morrin, a psychology professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Morrin and her collaborators enhanced the atmosphere of a suburban shopping mall in Canada over the course of a month. On different days, they played slow-tempo popular music, filled the mall with a citrus scent, played the music and emitted the scent, or left the mall's atmosphere un-enhanced. On each day, the researchers surveyed shoppers and asked if they had made unplanned purchases that day and how much they had spent. The shoppers--774 in all--also noted how much they enjoyed their shopping experience that day and whether items were easy to find in the mall. While the pleasant scent and music did not have any effect on the shoppers' reported moods, they did affect how much the shoppers spent.