Can music influence what we buy? To find out, I dove into the psychology of music

In the first episode of my Nudge podcast, I interviewed the fantastic psychologist Dr. Adrian North, who conducted one of the seminal studies on the psychology of music.

Back in 1997, the researchers stocked an English supermarket with four types of French and German wines, all similarly matched in cost, dryness, and sweetness. For two weeks, the store speakers either played German oom-pah music or French accordion music. North and his colleagues would switch the music daily and measure the effect on sales.

Turns out, 83% of wine buyers bought French wine when the accordion music was playing, while 65% of buyers picked German bottles when the Bavarian music was on.

North interviewed these buyers as they left the store, but no one claimed the music had an effect on their purchase — yet it clearly did.

Is the connection between music and buying behavior still relevant?

North’s study had some important results, but it’s worth noting that this study is almost three decades old and has a relatively small sample size of just 82 people.

So, are the findings still relevant today?

Well, in 2017, researchers at Montclair State University found that playing Italian music in a university cafeteria increased sales of their Italian dish (chicken parmesan). When playing Spanish flamenco tunes, they increased sales of paella.

It’s clear that music does seem to shape what we buy. And maybe even what we want to eat?

Indeed, during a recent trip to Paris, I couldn’t help but stop at the local boulangerie each morning for a coffee and croissant. Thinking back, I realized that they routinely played French café-style music. Perhaps that’s what drew me in.

What else can music influence? Turns out, quite a lot …

In his book Pre-Suasion, Robert B. Cialdini writes that music made children 3x more likely to help their peers. Similarly, in Get It Done, Ayelet Fishbach shared how music can increase gym reps by 50%. And Nick Kolenda’s work in Imagine Reading This Book shows that sad music makes exciting life landmarks feel further away.

Yet, the study on music that’s arguably most influential involves (more) supermarket shoppers.

In Ronald E. Milliman’s study (aptly titled “Using Background Music to Affect the Behavior of Supermarket Shoppers”), he monitored the flow of shoppers as they navigated a supermarket in the southern U.S. Over nine weeks, he found that customers spent 38% more when slow music (60 BPM) was played compared to fast music (108 BPM).

Milliman and his team concluded that the pace of the music influenced the speed of the shoppers. In other words, a slow tempo slowed down the pace of shopping, giving the customers more time to buy. Compelling, right?

In his wonderful book Sensehacking, Charles Spence desperately tried to find companies that have applied this insight into music and tempo (and were willing to talk about it).

One of the few public examples is Chipotle.

According to Spence, Chipotle carefully controls the tempo of the music in all of its 3,500+ stores. They deliberately play faster music at busy times of the day to speed up their customers and shorten the long lines.

Chipotle’s in-house DJ is quoted as saying, “The lunch and dinner rush have songs with higher BPMs because we need to keep the customers moving.”

During the quieter periods, the store plays slower tunes to keep customers lingering and keep the store busy.

So, the next time you find yourself chomping down on your lunchtime burrito or reaching for that bottle of German wine, take a minute and ask yourself: “What music is playing right now?”

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