Music in Stores

                I am not talking about the music that is being sold in stores, but the music that is being played in stores while customers shop.  Music is also normally being played when a person goes into any building that is providing a service to people.
                Music is selected to be played in a store by the type of audience that shops there and the type of products being sold.  It would be weird if the blues was being played in a store that was selling clothing to young teenagers that would prefer to listen to pop music.  Why is it that stores play music?  I often ask myself that and never truly understand why.  It could be to entertain the workers and keep them awake so they don’t fall asleep on the job, or it could be to entertain the customers and provide a warming environment that would encourage them to buy more stuff.
                I came to more conclusions and did some research online and found out that background music being played in a store can cause several different customer reactions.  Louder music (loud enough to be heard, but not ear-piercing loud) causes customers to go through a supermarket faster and doesn’t reduce the amount of product being sold.  I personally have never noticed that, but I also don’t pay too much attention to the volume of music.  Low-tempo music causes customers to mover slower, which in return causes them to buy more products.  Also the style of music affect the quality of product being bought.  Classical music versus pop music at a wine store leads customers to buy more expensive products and increases the volume of product being sold.
                Music seems to always make time go by faster and by playing music when callers are on hold, it has been proven that is it more likely for the customer to stay on hold longer before hanging up.  I would definitely agree with this because I would much rather listen to music than hear a static sound or no sound on the other line.
                Pasted below is a link that discusses an experiment that was done to prove that the style of music affects what is being bought and how much of a product is being purchased.  A study was done over the type of music in a wine store.  It was French versus German music and if French music was being played, then French wine would be bought and vice versa.
http://www.acrwebsite.org/search/view-conference-proceedings.aspx?Id=7467