6 Tips for Creating A Better Retail Experience with Music
Sonos Pro Editorial Team
Music plays a subtle yet crucial role in your customers’ shopping experiences. The rhythm, tempo, and genre of your retail store music define the ambiance of your business and, ideally, leave a lasting impression on your customers.
Most retailers invest significantly in visual aesthetics — the perfect layout, captivating displays, and impressive staging — but often underestimate the power of a well-curated sound experience. Sound, or the lack thereof, is an element of your store’s atmosphere that customers may not actively notice but will definitely feel: studies find that supermarket shoppers spend over $8 more per person when uplifting music is playing.
Playing the right retail store music not only amplifies your brand identity but also speaks to your target audience, making their shopping experience more unique and enjoyable. This is why understanding how to effectively use music in your retail store can be a game-changer for your bottom line.
This blog post will explore six ways you can use background music to create the perfect sound experience for your customers, including:
- Using the right commercial music streaming service
- Choosing music that aligns with your products, customers, and brand
- Finding the right speakers for your layout
- Using tempo and volume to drive traffic flow and purchases
- Switching things up to keep customers engaged
- Using remote monitoring and management to maintain control
- How to amplify your retail atmosphere with Sonos Pro
Create the ultimate shopping experience with background music for your business
Music, when used right, can be a silent salesman, creating a welcoming shopping environment that sways customers’ decisions. Using the right background music helps set the tone for your customers, cement your brand strength, and bring a consistent, familiar atmosphere to every new location.
For instance, the luxury clothing and apparel brand, Faherty, has over 50 locations across the United States. With so many stores, it needs more than displays and decor to establish the laid-back, beachside vibes its customers have come to love. Faherty uses Sonos Pro and its extensive library of background music to find the perfect sound and deliver it consistently across each store.
6 tips for getting the sound right in your retail store
Crafting the in-store sound experience that Faherty and other successful retailers deliver is about so much more than pressing play on an app. It’s the harmony you achieve with an extensive music selection, quality speakers, and your ability to easily monitor and control your sound system.
Of course, there’s a lot of planning that goes into your retail sound system before you realize any benefits. To help speed up the process, here are six tips kickstarting your brand sound overhaul:
01
Use the right commercial music streaming service
Streaming music in your store isn’t as simple as it is in your home, primarily because of licensing requirements. Using a catalog of commercially licensed music ensures worry-free streaming for you and payment for the independent artists whose work you use.
Services like Sonos Backgrounds, Soundtrack Your Brand, or Mood Media provide access to large libraries of licensed music for retail stores and other commercial uses, complete with playlists curated by genre, mood, and retail type.
02
Choose music that aligns with your products, customers, and brand
The music you play in your store should be an extension of your brand. Whether it’s a single genre or a mix, the sound should resonate with the products you sell, the audience you serve, and the experience you want to create. For example, customers are more willing to splurge on high-status items like jewelry, cologne, or art when classical music is playing in the background.
Finding music that strikes the right balance takes time — you need to observe your customers to learn their musical preferences and shopping behavior. Next, you experiment with different artists, genres, and volumes to see which combinations produce the best results. This is another reason why it’s so important to have a large catalog of music at the ready.
03
Find the right speakers for your layout
Speaker quality and placement are crucial to the overall atmosphere in your store. You need speakers to fill your space with high-quality music, and you need to place them so the sound is consistent and clear no matter where a customer is throughout your store.
Sonos’s industry-leading speakers can easily fill up to 250 square feet with clear sound, so larger stores or those with high ceilings likely need multiple speakers to create the perfect atmosphere. WiFi-enabled speakers are easy to install and give you a sound system that scales alongside your business.
04
Use tempo and volume to drive traffic and purchases
The tempo and volume of your retail music also have a major impact on customer behavior. Research shows that high-tempo, high-volume music encourages quick movement and faster checkouts, while a slower tempo makes customers spend more time browsing.
So, if you offer expensive products like furniture or electronics that require more customer consideration, playing low-tempo music at a softer volume will slow the pace of your customers and give your sales staff more time to work their magic. On the other hand, high-volume stores, like big-box and discount retailers, might opt for louder, fast-paced music to streamline the buying process.
You can also be strategic with your tempo and volume; adjusting the music based on the time of day or nature of sales can effectively drive customer behavior.
05
Switch things up to keep customers engaged
Do you like hearing the same music day in, day out? Playing the same tunes over and over can tire out even your most loyal customers and build a lot of frustration in your staff. Finding your brand sound doesn’t mean sticking exclusively to a handful of songs, playlists, or genres — there’s a lot of music out there.
With the right commercial streaming service, you gain access to a large library of music to keep the ambiance fresh and engaging while still ringing true to your brand. It empowers you to take back your time with curated playlists for any environment. Access to more music also lets you align the sound of different seasons, holidays, or sales events — making the shopping experience more relevant and enjoyable for your customers.
06
Use remote monitoring and management to maintain control
Managing music in a bustling retail environment can be challenging for owners who also have to oversee staff, help customers, and address other operational and administrative concerns. There’s not a lot of time between your daily tasks to manage music or answer questions from staff about your sound system.
With remote monitoring and management, you can check the music, volume, and speaker settings within each store from anywhere with ease. So you can maintain a consistent atmosphere across all locations without the risk of employee distractions or mishaps. Remote control features also let you empower your most trusted employees by giving them exclusive system access.
Amplify your retail sound with Sonos Pro
Sonos is bringing its expertise in home audio and quality sound to the world of business. With the Sonos Pro offering, retailers can access commercially licensed music, high-quality speakers, and a central dashboard for complete control over their sound system. Not only does this offering provide the true Sonos sound experience, but it also simplifies the process of managing retail store music with:
- Remote monitoring and management.
- Complete control over a library of commercially-licensed content.
- Premium support from a customer success manager.
So, whether you’re a small boutique or a retail chain, incorporating the right music into your retail environment can enhance your customer experience and boost your sales. Check out Sonos Pro pricing and start creating better shopping experiences for your customers with a comprehensive sound solution.
*Sonos Pro is only available in certain territories.
