Music and shopping——Beware of Beethoven
音乐与购物：谨防贝多芬
What you hear affects what you buy online
你所听到的会影响你在网上购物时的选择
EVER since Muzak started serenading patrons of hotels and restaurants in the 1930s, piped-in music has been part of the consumer experience. Without the throb of a synthesiser or a guitar's twang, shoppers would sense something missing as they tried on jeans or filled up trolleys. Specialists like Mood Media, which bought Muzak in 2011, devise audio programmes to influence the feel of shops and cater to customers' tastes. The idea is to entertain, and thereby prolong the time shoppers spend in stores, says Claude Nahon, the firm's international chief. Music by famous artists works better than the generic stuff that people associate with Muzak. The embarrassing brand name was dropped in 2013.
自从19世纪30年代Muzak开始为酒店和餐厅提供背景音乐开始，耳边回荡着的音乐就成了消费者体验的一部分。消费者在试穿牛仔裤或往购物车里挑商品的时候，一旦没有混音器的震动作响或吉他的琴音，就会似乎觉得缺少了点什么。此类专业公司如Mood Media，设计音频方案以影响顾客对商店的感觉，迎合消费者的品味，且其在2011年收购了Muzak。该公司的国际业务总监Claude Nahon说这一创意是为了使消费者感到愉悦，并因此延长消费者留在商店里的时间。比起普通的音乐，著名艺术家的音乐能更好的使消费者与背景音乐建立联系。这一尴尬的品牌名称在2013年被放弃。
Online shopping is an under-explored area of merchandising musicology. A new study commissioned by eBay, a shopping website, aims to correct that. Some 1,900 participants were asked to simulate online shopping while listening to different sounds. Some results were unsurprising. The noise of roadworks and crying babies soured shoppers' views of the products on offer. Chirruping birds encouraged sales of barbecues but not blenders or board games.
网上购物是销售音乐学有待开发的一个领域。由购物网站eBay委托进行的一项新研究就是为了完善它。约1900名参与者被要求在不同的背景声音下模拟网上购物。一些结果并不让人意外。道路施工的噪音以及婴儿的哭声让顾客对所提供的商品感到失望。鸟的叽喳声有利于烧烤工具的销售而不利于搅拌机或棋盘类游戏的销售。
Sounds associated with quality and luxury seemed to be hazardous for shoppers' wallets. The study found classical music and restaurant buzz caused them to overestimate the quality of goods on offer and to pay more than they should. That backs up earlier research which found that shoppers exposed to classical music in a wine store bought more expensive bottles than those hearing pop.
与品质和奢华相联系的声音似乎可以使顾客的钱包大出血。研究发现古典音乐和餐厅的杂音可以使顾客高估所提供的商品的质量，并使他们的花销比本应该的更多。这一点支持了一个早期研究发现：在酒行里，暴露在古典音乐中的顾客会比听着流行乐的顾客购买更贵的酒。
EBay wants consumers to avoid such unhealthy influences when shopping online. It has blended birdsong, dreamy music and the sound of a rolling train—thought to be pleasant but not overly seductive—to help them buy more sensibly. Retailers could presumably counter by cranking up the Chopin. “Classical music does seem to be the way to go” if your only interest is the narrow one of squeezing as much money as possible from your clientele, says the study's author, Patrick Fagan, a lecturer at Goldsmiths, part of the University of London.
EBay希望消费者在网购时能够避免这些不健康的影响。混合了鸟鸣、梦幻般的音乐以及火车转轮声的音频—被认为是令人愉悦的，但不过于诱人的音乐—使得顾客购保持理智的同时又购买更多的商品。零售商们想必会通过把播放着肖邦音乐的音箱声音调大来彼此竞争。Patrick Fagan，伦敦大学分部—金史密斯学院的讲师，该研究报告的作者称：“古典音乐似乎就是正确的选择”，如果你唯一的兴趣就是狭隘的想要从你的客户身上榨取尽可能多的钱。
Few traditional shops are likely to use that tactic. H&M, a clothes retailer, airs “trendy, up-tempo” music from new artists, while Nespresso's coffee boutiques go for “lounge-y” sounds, says Mr Nahon. Grocery stores, with a broad following, play top 40 hits. The tempo tends to be slower in the mornings, when shoppers are sparser and older, and becomes more allegro as the day goes on.
很少有传统商店会使用这一策略。Nahon先生说，服装零售商H&M会播放来自新兴艺术家的“新潮，快节奏”的音乐，而雀巢咖啡精品店会选择“lounge-y”这类懒洋洋的音乐。有着广泛顾客群的杂货商店会播放排行榜前40名的单曲。早上，顾客比较稀少且多为老年人时，就播放节奏舒缓的音乐，而随后逐渐变快。
Using the classics to set tills ringing may not be an option, but audio architects are thinking up new tricks for bricks-and-mortar stores. Mood Media is experimenting with an inaudible “digital tag”, attached to in-store soundtracks, which activates an app on shoppers' phones. The app can tempt them with discounts or provide more information about products. With luck, this will trigger more sales than a blast of Beethoven.
使用传统方式把收银机设置收银扫描时会响的模式可能不是一个好的选择，但是音频架构师正为实体店铺构思新策略。Mood Media正在试验一种无声数字标签，其与店内背景音乐联系在一起，且其可激活顾客手机上的一个应用程序。此应用程序可以提供折扣吸引顾客购买或为顾客提供更多产品信息。幸运的话，这将比贝多芬一段激荡的音乐引发更高的销售量。
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