How Music Affects Customer Behaviour and Spend.

Can the type of background music you choose to play in your restaurant really affect dwell time and customer spend?

How Music Affects Behaviour and Spend
In-store experiences, enhanced by music

According to research by Clare Caldwell and Sally Hibbert from the University of Strathclyde, yes it does.

They decided to test out how fast music (music that was 94 BPM or faster) and slow music (72 BPM or less) affected how long people stayed at an Italian restaurant in an affluent area of Glasgow.

The slow music caused diners to stay longer by 13.56 minutes – impressive if you are encouraging dwell time.

The same research found that the people listening to slow tempo music spent £27.26 on their food and drinks. While those listening to faster music ended spending £22.18 – a difference of £5.08.

This finding is supported by R. E Millmand in 1986 who found that in a similar experiment his fast versus slow group spent about equal amounts on food, but the slower group spent 40% more on alcohol.

At Imagesound we understand the importance of profiling the right music for your customer and the tempo of your restaurant, bar or café to encourage dwell time... and increase spend.

 / By Tim Hull, UK

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