Music goes straight to the emotions. In our shop, we like to make an emotional connection with our customers, so we play music that we know most of them like. We play jazz swing, sixties and modern ballads- melodic songs that are familiar and appealing to the older women who form the bulk of our customers. Recently we've been playing Abba, because of the popularity of Mamma Mia!, and that's gone down well.
Music that's relaxing without being soporific helps customers think this is the shop for them and gets them in the mood for purchasing. The same applies to music-on-hold.
No doubt sounding like the middle-aged fuddy duddy that I am, I'm at a loss as to why some sports shops play very loud, drum'n'bass rap music. They may want to appeal to a niche part of a younger crowd but the alienating effect on everyone else must be huge. I suspect this is the mistake of allowing staff to play their own favourite music. Equally bad is the kind of bland musak that used to be very common in lifts and department stores but fortunately seems to be less fashionable these days.
You still have to be careful in the choice of music. Not long ago, I was standing in an inexorably long line, listening to golden oldies, when The Kinks' So Tired Of Waiting came on. Quite.
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