The Influence of Music on Online Shopping Behaviour

The purpose of this study was to identify the possible effects of background music on online consumer behaviour. Research has examined influence of music on various in-store consumer behaviours including time spent in store and total dollar amount in sales (Milliman, 1982; Milliman; 1986). If and how music alters consumer behaviour in the online setting has not been widely investigated despite the increasing popularity of online stores. Based on relevant theory and research in physical commercial settings, it was predicted that music, as opposed to no music, would result to higher positive affect experienced and increased time spent in an online store. It is also predicted that low-tempo music, compared to no music, would produce more thorough product evaluations. 210 participants engaged in a timed online shopping simulation after being randomly assigned to three conditions: no music, slow-tempo music (72 bpm) and fast-tempo music (120 bpm). Shopping consisted of the perusal of features of each of five different headphones. Afterward, participants completed a series of surveys that measured their evaluations on the products, likelihood of purchase, and shopping-related affect and involvement. Although participants carefully and successfully chose the headphone set with the most superior features, less time was taken to do so when fast tempo music than in no-music control; with slow-tempo music falling in between. In short, the fast tempo music led to more efficient evaluation. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. THE INFLUENCE OF MUSIC ON ONLINE SHOPPING BEHAVIOUR 3 The Influence of Music on Online Shopping Behaviour Research has demonstrated that various components of store environments affect consumer behaviour. The stimuli include product information and background features such as tone of paint and lighting (Tantanatewin & Inkarojrit, 2016), ambient store fragrance (Morrin & Ratneshwar, 2003), and background music (Milliman, 1982; Milliman, 1986). Background music, the focus of the present paper, has been shown to affect two types of consumer behaviour: product preference (Gorn, 1982), the act of choosing one product over another, and shopping (Milliman, 1982; Milliman, 1986), individual behaviours performed in stores for the purpose of purchasing products. In this paper, it is the latter that is addressed. Notably, background music can significantly extend time spent in store (Milliman, 1982; Milliman, 1986) and increase dollar amount spent by patrons (Milliman, 1982; Milliman, 1986). Almost all research exploring the impact of background music on consumer conduct has been conducted in physical stores located in laboratory or field settings. The effects of background music on online consumer behaviour, on the other hand, have not been widely examined despite the increased popularity of online stores. In Canadian households alone, 76% of the population shop online (Canada Post, 2018). That being the case, this experimental study explores the potential impact of background music on online consumer behaviour, specifically on time spent shopping, quality of product assessment, task involvement, and customer affect. How Music Might Affect Online Consumer Conduct Several theories suggest that background music could influence consumer behaviour in an online shopping context. First, a classical conditioning explanation proposes that a reflexive THE INFLUENCE OF MUSIC ON ONLINE SHOPPING BEHAVIOUR 4 positive evaluation of an unconditioned stimulus, music, would transfer to a previously neutral stimulus, the product. Second, an operant conditioning explanation suggests that music makes the shopping environment pleasant and consequently increases time spent in the store. Third, priming, wherein the presence of a retrieval cue (in this case, music) activates mental content related to a product decision, could be pertinent. Finally, the elaboration likelihood model of persuasion suggests how music could influence decision making via the peripheral route to persuasion. Associative Learning Classical conditioning. In a model based on classical conditioning, music would be considered an unconditioned stimulus capable of eliciting an evaluation. If the music is positive, the listener would experience unconditioned responses such as pleasure, liking for the piece, and a desire to hear it again. Presenting a neutrally evaluated stimulus along with the music would result in that object or event eliciting responses resembling those occurring in response to the unconditioned stimulus. In other words, the object or event gains the capacity to arouse pleasure and positive evaluation and thus goes from being a neutral to a conditioned stimulus. Crucially, the pleasure and positive evaluations aroused by the conditioned stimulus are attributed to the conditioned stimulus, thus raising its value in a purchase decision. Gorn (1982), for instance, found that a product (neutral stimulus) paired with liked music (unconditioned stimulus), compared to one paired with disliked music, was more often chosen by participants. Gorn (1982) proposed that this effect typically happens when participants are not in a decision-making mode, meaning, they are not paying careful attention to product attributes. However, other researchers failed to replicate Gorn’s (1982) findings. Kellaris and Cox (1989) THE INFLUENCE OF MUSIC ON ONLINE SHOPPING BEHAVIOUR 5 found that the association between level of music appeal and degree of product preference was not significant. Kellaris and Cox (1989) criticized Gorn’s (1982) procedures as facilitating demand artifacts in participants. Particularly, Gorn (1982) informed participants what the purpose of his study was beforehand (i.e., to select the music that would best fit an ad). Hearing this, participants in the study acted accordingly, thus giving rise to a spurious set of results. As both studies mentioned above presented contradictory results, it is the hope of the present study to explore how, if at all possible, classical conditioning is implicated in the relationship between background music and evaluation of paired stimuli. This can be done by decreasing the likelihood of inducing demand in the procedure of the study in that the general purpose of the study by omitting any mention of the anticipated role of background music and by imposing a manipulation of music tempo in a between-subjects design. Operant conditioning. Based on the principles of operant conditioning, pleasant music could serve as a reinforcer whereas unpleasant music could serve as punishment. Online shopping might itself be reinforced with pleasant music and punished with aversive music. Shoppers might shop longer in a pleasant setting but shop for less time in an unpleasant setting. Along these lines, Milliman (1982) found that soft-tempo music increased alcohol sales in a bar. He attributed this to the relaxing mood created in customers. As evidence that the rewarding affect generalized to drinking behaviour, alcohol consumption increased. By the same reasoning, aversive music would be expected to reduce time devoted to shopping. To illustrate, Smith and Curnow (1966) found that when background music was uncomfortably loud, a store’s total sales and time spent in store was negatively affected. In this context, music serves as punishment for shopping and, therefore, reduces the likelihood of individuals browsing and buying products. THE INFLUENCE OF MUSIC ON ONLINE SHOPPING BEHAVIOUR 6 Operant conditioning principles suggest how elements of music could increase or decrease online consumer behaviour. Based on this explanation, it was expected in the present study that the pleasant music used would increase the amount of time spent shopping. Whether this would enhance or diminish thought quality–detecting the superior set of headphones planted in a group of five–was an interesting question. The elaboration likelihood model would suggest two possibilities. Extra time could improve central route processing–the more time spent on task, the greater the opportunity to read and benefit from information contained in product feature lists. Extra time might add little to thought quality if participants were uninvolved in the issue. The decision would be made strictly on the basis of the peripheral cue, pleasant music. The design of the present study made it possible to distinguish these processes. Priming Another way music’s effect on online consumer behaviour can be explained is through priming. According to a priming explanation, a retrieval cue that activates one concept will, soon after, activate associated concepts in the person’s memory. The word “bread” would for many also activate “loaf” and “butter. ” Thus, music could operate as a retrieval cue to concepts that could, once activated, drive consumer cognition and behaviour. For example, Jacob (2006) found that when drinking songs were played in the background (as opposed to Top 40 music or cartoon music), participants stayed longer in a bar and spent more money on alcoholic beverages. Jacob (2006) used priming to explain this result. Drinking songs are “traditionally associated with alcohol consumption and friendliness” (p. 719). By playing drinking songs in bars, bar owners are able to prime positive feelings and affiliative tendencies in their customers. These could increase time spent in the bar and amount spent on alcoholic beverages. THE INFLUENCE OF MUSIC ON ONLINE SHOPPING BEHAVIOUR 7 Although not necessarily citing priming as an explanation, MacInnis and Park (1991) stated that music indexicality (i.e. music that is familiar and reminds individuals of a past memory) affects consumer behaviour by affecting consumer’s emotions and ad attitudes. This effect is especially seen when involvement is low—when participants were not paying close attention to the ad’s message. For example, in the study done by MacInnis and Park (1991), the song “You Make M