This article is created as a critique based on the article of Pernille K.

Andersson; Let the

music play or not: The influence of background music on consumer behaviour. In this 8
paged article; Andersson first gives some examples from literature and previous experiments
done about how music plays a role in consumer behaviour. Then, Andersson talks about why
those previous experiments may not be showing the true behaviour of consumers and refers
two studies made in order to investigate consumer behaviours about music in retail shopping.
These studies are based on two different surveys made towards ordinary consumers, in two
different time of the year in two different types of retail shops.
One of the negative aspects about Anderssons article can be the number of participants to the
study. First survey is made towards 150 consumers of whom 85 are males and 65 are females;
and second survey is made towards 400 consumers of whom 174 are males and 226 are
females. According to survey sites like surveymonkey.com, the sample size should be
calculated according to the number of population and also according to Glenn D. Israel in his
article from University of Florida about Determining Sample Size, In addition to the purpose
of the study and population size, three criteria usually will need to be specified to determine
the appropriate sample size: the level of precision, the level of confidence or risk, and the
degree of variability in the attributes being measured. Unfortunately, there is no mention
about the real number of the daily consumer traffic for both the retail stores the surveys are
made, besides theres no mention about the general demographics about the area both the
stores are located.
Second negative aspect about Anderssons article can be the amount of the duration of the
experiments. In order to organise an experiment, first of all the overall consumer behaviour
should have been examined. The seasonality and trend in the consumer behaviour should have
been examined and a period date which the cycle completes itself should have been
determined. The cycle means the timing starting from the lowest consumer activity goes to
peak and ends again in the second lowest consumer activity. This can be a weekly period or
monthly period for instance. And within this period; the number of the visiting consumers
should have been examined also.
Third negative aspect about Anderssons article can be the differentiation of the store types.
The experiment is conducted in only two kinds of retail stores, one in Swedish home
electronics retail store and in a large supermarket store. According to Effective Consumer
Skills, the types of retail stores are chain, department, specialty, discount, manufacturer
owned and outlet stores. Therefore, in order to make such an experiment involving the retail

shops; more diversification among different retail stores should be investigated. In order to
organise such an experiment and conclude the results, the input needs to be diversified. It can
be by more retail shops, in different cities, areas, locations. Since, the musics effect on people
can also be dependent on demographic issues other than age and gender, such as social status
and culture. The mean age of the both studies are 44 and 49 with standard deviation of 16 and
17, respectively. Between this age group, music may not be effecting the behaviours;
however, in order to conclude that No effects were found for age, a more thorough search
about age should have been made.
On the other hand; seeing that all the previous experiments regarding the effect of music on
consumer in retail shops are created in laboratory, and questioning whether the effects will be
same in real life conditions is very important in analysing the real factors of music on
consumer behaviour as stated by There are many advantages to using a controlled setting to
tease out effects that may otherwise become blurred. However, this raises questions regarding
the external validity of the findings and whether it would be possible to detect the same
effects in an actual store setting.
Besides; in the first study; creating a survey in mid-December and adapting the conditions of
music to that period of the year by adapting the music to Christmas period is a great thought
and logically this should be thought this behaviour can be used in increasing the number of
consumers, increasing the satisfaction got from entering that store and stimulating the brand
loyalty. Furthermore, creating the music with working together with a company that
specialised in designing music for stores in that type of settings increases the professionality
of the experiment.
Then, investigating the results of the first experiment and concluding by Study I was
conducted in an electronics store shortly before Christmas, when gift-buying was at its peak.
This might be viewed as a more hedonic activity, as consumers could be expected to visit the
store in order to get inspiration regarding what to give and what to ask others for. Therefore, a
follow-up study would be of interest, in which the consumption activity is more utilitarian,
such as in a grocery store. Secondly, the findings of music and gender interaction also call for
a follow-up. Finally, in order to better detect nuances of the effect that music might have, it
would be desirable to also investigate how the tempo of music affects consumers. Meaning
that the Christmas period shouldnt be the only period to be experimented, and may be
leading to miscalculations; also the store should be differentiated are very important factors
and creating a second survey in order to get a better understanding was very important in

order to be able to create a reliable study. The second survey is created in a regular season;
creating data both about peak shopping times and regular shopping season. Developing the
timing while creating a survey is highly important in order to come up with a reliable data.
In an investigation, the method is first creating an idea, a hypothesis about how the behaviour
can be predicted as; and then finding an environment that can test this prediction of the
hypothesis, and determining how to understand if the prediction is true or not. During the first
survey the music volume kept constant and in the second survey while the volume kept
constant the tempo of the music was changed. This is a good idea for building hypothesis in
order to create data about how music is affecting the behaviours. Keeping other variables as
constant while changing the measured factor as the changing object makes the research be
able to investigate behaviours better towards that changing factor; in this study it is music and
the prediction is if the music is affecting the behaviours of the consumers, so the tempo of the
music should also, because the audience of the experiment is predicted to be not neglecting
the music variable. Additionally, as determination of understanding if the prediction is correct,
Anderssons study uses both survey and sales information; number of purchases. Both data is
reliable source in order to get information about the consumer behaviour, thus creating a good
source to test the prediction and hypothesis.
Creating a follow up for gender effect since in the first study, gender was a differentiation
effect was another positive approach of Andersson towards the study subject. When a factor is
seen as changing the data; it is important to approach towards that in more detail is essential
in building reliable conclusions, as also mentioned in the above paragraph.
One more important factor is, involving figures about all the data explained in the article.
Instead of simply putting the tables and data summaries; involving the graphics the data has
created is essential. It increases the perceptions taken from the data and creates better
understanding towards readers.
In conclusion, the article had some parts that can lead to be questioned about the reliability of
the survey. However, when the complete research is investigated, it is seen that the most
important part of this research is creating an experiment and survey in real-life conditions,
where the sample has no information or about the idea about they are being investigated and
experimented; rather than laboratory settings where everything is artificial and the
experimented people know about the experiment. In addition; it is stated that the previous
experiments were made basically on undergraduate students, creating a survey involving the

real segment groups of the retail stores with different age groups than undergraduate students
are an essential point in understanding the consumer behaviour in better ways. Besides, the
predictions are made in a solid way, the hypotheses are created and the survey project was
built in good accordance towards identification of the predicted behaviours. The only
disadvantage of the studies was having not so many correspondents and being not very
diversified. Since the plan, questions and experiment are well organised; this effect can easily
be disregarded by first identifying the shopping period and segment of the retail markets that
will be used in the experiment and then by creating more data by continuing to this study for a
longer period and towards a bigger and diversified audience and retail types.
REFERENCES:
1. Andersson, Pernille K. 2012, Let the music play or not: The influence of background
music on consumer behavior.
2.

SurveyMonkey Help Center, Calculating the Number of Respondents You Need,

available from: http://help.surveymonkey.com/articles/en_US/kb/How-many-

respondents-do-I-need, accessed on: 2016.

3. Israel, Glenn D. Determining Sample Size, available from:
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/PD/PD00600.pdf, page:1
4. Effective Consumer Skills Teacher Resource, Types of Retail Stores, page: 29,
accessed from: http://www.uen.org/cte/family/clothing1/downloads/consumerism/types.pdf .