Retail teams can spend weeks negotiating which SKU goes at eye level and which brand gets the end cap. The music that plays over that same shelf often comes from a streaming playlist that nobody in the company has reviewed. Both affect shoppers, yet only the shelf gets planned and audited.
Researchers have studied music in retail for more than forty years. Their experiments show that tempo, volume and genre change how fast people walk, how long they stay and which products they pick. For FMCG brands and retailers, this makes audio marketing a merchandising tool that belongs next to layout, pricing and promo, and it costs far less to adjust than a store refit.
In this article, we explain what audio marketing in retail includes, how in-store music affects shopper behavior, what the research says, and how to plan and measure sound in merchandising alongside shelf and sales data.
Table of Contents
Key Takeaways
- Music in retail affects how fast shoppers walk, how long they stay and which products they choose. Shoppers react to in-store music even when they do not notice its influence.Â
- Music that fits the brand and audience can support the shopping experience. Tempo, volume and genre should be tested against the store format, shopper needs and time of day.
- Retailers can measure audio marketing with dwell time, conversion and average transaction value, supported by customer feedback. Reliable tests also account for prices, promotions, traffic and shelf conditions. Goods Checker can provide the shelf data for that analysis.
What Is Audio Marketing in Retail?
Audio marketing means using sound to promote a brand and its products and to manage the shopper’s experience. In a store, it covers background music, an in-store radio station with promotional announcements, short jingles and sound signals in specific zones.
Classic audio advertising and in-store audio differ in where the listener is. Radio spots and podcast ads can reach people outside the store, while in-store audio is designed for the shopping environment. It can highlight an offer while shoppers are nearby and able to act on it. In-store audio reaches them a few meters from the shelf, at the moment they choose between products.
Retailers usually work with three formats.
- Background music. A curated playlist or a licensed music service sets the mood of the whole store or of a specific zone.
- In-store radio. A branded audio channel mixes music with short messages about promotions, new products, loyalty programs or services.
- Sound signals and effects. Short audio cues play in a zone or at a display, for example, near a tasting station or at a self-checkout.
Music in merchandising works best when the formats a retailer uses follow a consistent plan. A small store may need only background music; a larger store may also benefit from promotional messages or audio zones.
How Music in Merchandising Influences Shopper Behavior
Sound affects shoppers in several ways at once, and most of these effects happen without the shopper noticing.
Mood and Perceived Atmosphere
Music sets the emotional tone of a store before a shopper looks at any product. Slow music makes a space feel relaxed, fast tracks make it feel active, and jazz tends to make it feel premium.
This is why pharmacies usually play soft instrumental music, while sporting goods stores play energetic tracks. In a 2019 Mood Media survey of more than 10,000 consumers in eight markets, shoppers named music as the number one factor that improved their mood in stores, and 85% of respondents said it had a positive effect on them.
Movement Speed and Dwell Time
Tempo also changes how fast people walk. In a 1982 study, Ronald Milliman played slow and fast music on different days in an American supermarket. Shoppers moved more slowly when the music was slow, and average daily sales revenue was about 38% higher under the slow-tempo condition than under the fast-tempo condition. This was a result from one supermarket, not a forecast for every store.
A 2006 meta-analysis by Garlin and Owen found small-to-moderate effects of background music on spending-related outcomes, behavior duration and emotional responses. The practical takeaway is to test musical choices in context rather than assume that slower or quieter music always performs better.
Impulse Purchases and “Music Creates Purchase Desire”
More time in the store can give shoppers more opportunities to notice products, but it does not automatically lead to impulse purchases. The phrase “music creates purchase desire” describes a possible influence on mood and product associations, not a guaranteed response.
In a well-known UK supermarket experiment, North, Hargreaves and McKendrick alternated French and German music next to a wine display. French wine sold better on French-music days, and German wine sold better on German-music days. When the researchers asked 44 buyers about their choice, only six said the music had influenced it.
*This experiment concerns product choice within a category. It does not establish whether the purchases were planned or impulsive.
Custom Channels, a business music provider, reports that transactions can grow by around 9% when the music matches the brand’s identity.
Brand Perception and Memory
People remember stores by how they felt inside, and sound is part of that feeling. Custom Channels describes Hollister as an example. Shoppers who visited the brand’s stores in the 2000s still build Spotify playlists called “Hollister Store 2000s” to recreate that atmosphere.
What Research Says: Why Music in Retail Drives Sales
Academic experiments measure one variable at a time, and industry surveys show how shoppers describe their own reactions. Field experiments examine behavior under specific conditions, while surveys capture what shoppers say about their experiences. These sources answer different questions: reported enjoyment, time spent shopping and actual sales should not be treated as the same outcome.
Shoppers Notice and React to In-Store Music
Most shoppers pay attention to in-store music, even if they rarely name it as a reason to buy. In the Mood Media study, 46% of respondents said they had stayed longer in a store because they enjoyed the music. Nine out of ten said they had returned to a store because they liked its combination of music, visuals and scent. At the same time, 57% said they would disengage from a brand that made poor music choices.
*The findings on return visits refer to the combined sensory experience, not music alone. They also reflect respondents’ reported decisions rather than tracked repeat visits.
Custom Channels also cites an estimate that music influences where people decide to shop or eat about half of the time.
Tempo, Volume and Genre: Effects on Dwell Time and Basket Size
RetailNext, a store analytics company, summarizes the research this way. Slower and quieter music leads to longer browsing and higher spending. Faster tracks speed up decisions and move people through the store more quickly.
Jain and Bagdare’s 2011 literature review shows that responses to music depend on the customer, the store, the timing of the purchase and other features of the environment. This supports adapting volume and style to the setting rather than applying one rule everywhere.
Genre changes what people buy. In a study by Areni and Kim (1993), a wine store played classical music on some evenings and Top-40 pop on others. With classical music, shoppers bought about the same number of bottles and chose more expensive wine. Context matters for all of these effects, because the right tempo for a quiet Tuesday morning can be wrong for a busy Saturday afternoon.
Music Alignment with Brand Image and Audience
A 2015 thesis by Gabriella Johansson and Jasmine Moradi examined matching music, non-matching music and silence at one GANT store in Sweden. The authors reported a 31.7% higher average transaction value with matching music than with non-matching music. The study covered a limited number of observation days, so the result should be treated as a finding from that setting rather than an expected uplift across a retail chain.
Luxury stores usually choose classical music or jazz. Youth fashion brands play indie and pop. Coffee shops and lifestyle stores use lo-fi, acoustic and ambient tracks.
From "Background Noise" to a Merchandising Tool: Why FMCG and Retail Need Audio Marketing
Sound in merchandising supports the same in-store funnel as layout and POSM.
- Attention. A change in music or a short audio message makes shoppers notice a zone or a promotion.
- Longer path and dwell time. Slower, familiar music keeps people in the aisles longer, so they see more products.
- Premium positioning. Genre and volume affect the price level shoppers expect, as the wine store experiment shows.
- Shorter perceived waiting. Pleasant music at the checkout makes queues feel shorter, while loud music that shoppers dislike makes them feel longer.
Audio changes also cost much less than physical ones. A new store layout requires capital spending and months of planning. A new playlist can start the same day, and the retailer can return to the old one just as quickly if the numbers do not improve.
Practical Guide: How to Use Music in Retail and FMCG Merchandising
To use audio marketing to increase sales, start with a clear store objective and choose a result to measure. Then define the musical style, volume and schedule that fit the audience and shopping mission.
Define Your Audio Identity: Brand, Audience, and Store Format
Start with three questions. Who shops in your store, in terms of age, lifestyle and reasons for visiting? Should the brand feel calm and premium, active and urban, or family-friendly? Is the store a supermarket, a discounter, a boutique, a convenience shop or a pharmacy?
The answers give you a short audio brief. For example, a premium organic grocery chain might choose acoustic music and soft jazz at moderate volume, while a discounter might choose familiar pop hits with a steady medium tempo.
Choose the Right Tempo and Volume for Each Zone
Use a slower tempo and moderate volume in zones where shoppers compare products and read labels, such as wine, cosmetics, baby care and electronics. Use more energetic music in zones built for quick purchases and during peak hours, when the store needs people to move faster.
Keep volume under control everywhere. A simple check is whether two people can talk at normal volume in the aisle.
Adapt Music by Daypart and Season
Custom Channels recommends planning playlists by daypart, season and demographics. Mornings can be calm, afternoons more energetic, and evenings slower again.
Seasonal rotation keeps the playlist fresh for regular customers and for staff, and holiday music can support seasonal categories.
Use Internal Radio and Audio Messages Wisely
In-store radio lets a retailer or a brand promote products at the moment of choice. Keep messages short, place them between tracks, and limit how often they play. Match each message to the zone and time of day, for example, a coffee promotion in the morning and a ready-meal offer in the late afternoon.
Too many announcements irritate shoppers. And if a message promotes a product, that product should be on the shelf at the advertised price.
Using Sound Differently Across Store Formats and Zones
Each store format serves a different shopper mission, so the same audio rules will not work everywhere. Use separate audio zones only where the sound can be contained. In a small open-plan store, overlapping playlists may be more distracting than a single consistent soundtrack.
Supermarkets and FMCG: Supporting Missions and Impulse Buys
In main aisles, shoppers usually follow a list, and neutral, familiar music at medium tempo does not distract them. Promo zones, the checkout area and impulse displays can have brighter tracks or short promotional messages. Themed music near a specific category, as in the wine experiment, can support a regional or seasonal promotion.
Fashion, Beauty and Lifestyle Stores: Building Identity and Mood
In these stores, music helps shoppers understand who the brand is for. A luxury boutique and a streetwear store should sound different, and the music should match the window display and lighting.
Aviator Nation offers a recent example. For the Grateful Dead’s 60th anniversary celebration, Custom Channels created a custom playlist for the brand’s San Francisco store. According to Custom Channels, the playlist increased social media engagement and kept customers in the store longer.
Quick Service and Convenience Formats
In convenience stores, gas station shops and quick-service cafes, speed matters most. A faster tempo and energetic music keep people moving and make short queues feel shorter.
Measuring Audio Marketing: From Intuition to Data-Driven Decisions
Many stores still choose music based on the manager’s taste. Yet audio affects numbers that retailers already track, so teams can test it like a promotion.
What to Track: Dwell Time, Conversion, Basket Size and Satisfaction
Link audio changes to four groups of KPIs.
- Dwell time in the store and in specific zones
- Conversion from visit to purchase
- Average basket value and number of items per receipt
- NPS (Net Promoter Score) or customer ratings of the store atmosphere
Choose a primary metric before the test, such as conversion or average transaction value. Use comparable stores or time slots, and randomly assign conditions where practical. Include complete weekly cycles, but set the duration according to traffic, normal sales variation and the size of the effect you need to detect. One week may not provide enough data.
Compare the change from baseline in the test group with the change in the control group. Record prices, promotions, staffing, traffic and product availability so that changes in these factors are not mistaken for a music effect.
Use direct questions about the music and store atmosphere to assess the immediate experience. NPS can provide wider context, but it reflects the overall relationship with the retailer. Longer dwell time is not automatically a success if conversion falls or shoppers struggle to find what they need.
For a promoted FMCG product, track units sold and sales per 100 visitors alongside price, availability and announcement times. Total store sales may hide what happened to the advertised product.
Combining Audio Experiments with In-Store Analytics
Specialized providers already connect music with store analytics. RetailNext and Brandtrack combine AI-driven music selection with traffic and conversion data. Brandtrack adjusts the music to foot traffic, weather and time of day, and RetailNext measures how shoppers respond. Retailers can then compare playlists and tempo settings and keep the version that performs better, which moves music decisions from personal preference to rules based on data.
Where Goods Checker Fits: Linking Audio, Visual Merchandising and Shopper Behavior
An audio test is easier to interpret when other store conditions are comparable. If a promoted product becomes unavailable or moves to a different display during the test, changes in sales cannot be attributed to music alone.
“Goods Checker uses computer vision to analyze shelf photos and report on product availability, planogram compliance, share of shelf and price tags. Shelf data can be exported or connected to other analytics systems through an API.
Teams can align these records with playlist schedules, traffic and sales data by store and time period. This helps identify stock or display changes that may affect the comparison. The shelf data reflects the photos collected; it does not by itself measure shoppers’ response to music.”
Best Practices and Common Mistakes in Audio Merchandising
Three rules prevent most of the problems we see with store music.
| Do | Don't |
|---|---|
|
Align Music with Brand and Shoppers Choose music that matches the brand image and the tastes of the people who actually shop in the store, and check the playlist against the audio brief. |
Use One-Size-Fits-All Playlists or Ignore Volume Random streaming playlists, the same tracks all day and music that is too loud for the space all hurt the shopping experience. Personal streaming subscriptions such as Spotify cover personal, non-commercial use only, so stores normally need a business music service or a public performance license. |
|
Test, Measure and Adjust Change one variable at a time, for example the tempo in one zone, and track dwell time, conversion and basket size. |
The Soundtrack of Your Store Is Part of Your Merchandising Strategy
Music and sound belong to merchandising and retail execution, together with the planogram, price and promotion. Research shows that they affect how long people stay and what they buy.
Sound cannot fix a weak assortment, empty shelves or poor service. It works together with visual merchandising, and teams can plan, test and measure it with the same discipline. In 2026, the retailers and brands that get the most from in-store audio manage it as a variable with its own KPIs. Shelf data from systems like Goods Checker helps them check whether a change in sound actually changed the results, or whether stock and display conditions explain the difference.
FAQ
What is audio marketing in retail?
It is the planned use of background music, in-store radio and sound signals to promote products and manage shopper behavior in the store.
How does music in retail influence shopper behavior?
Tempo, volume and musical style can influence mood, shopping pace and product associations. The response depends on the audience, store format and surrounding conditions.
How can audio marketing increase sales?
It can highlight relevant offers and support a shopping environment in which customers feel comfortable choosing products. Any sales uplift should be tested against comparable conditions rather than assumed.
What is the role of sound in merchandising?
Sound supports the same goals as layout and POSM, from drawing attention to promotions to making waiting feel shorter.
How do you measure the impact of in-store music?
Compare dwell time, conversion, basket size and satisfaction between test and control periods or stores, and check shelf conditions during the test.
