Everybody knows that music changes our mood and it can make us go through a whole spectrum of feelings without anything outside the song triggering it. An Adele song can make you miss your cheating ex even though you’ve never had a boyfriend and Pharrell’s ‘Happy’ will make you feel, well, happy, all in a matter of minutes.
It’s amazing how much music can influence us both on an emotional and physical level. Some therapists even use the healing power of sounds to treat their patients and studies have shown that they actually work. Depending on your type of business and what clients you want to have, it’s up to you to decide how you want people to feel in your store: relaxed, happy, rushed or maybe impulsive?
During holidays, but especially around Christmas time, there is a constant flow of customers willing to spend a lot more money than usual on gifts and things that they wouldn’t buy otherwise and would probably never use. It’s any retailer’s paradise! The music is a really big part in making clients feel the Christmas atmosphere so it’s important to choose the right songs that match the store’s style too.
If your goal is to get to as many people as possible, try a playlist with classic, well-known Christmas songs interpreted by famous singers. However, this might get a little boring as everybody plays the same songs over and over to make sure that you don’t play the same song twice and from time to time you switch to a twisted version of a song. It might be something acoustic, rock or even just instrumental.
Is your store the chic and stylish boutique type? Then a jazzy Christmas playlist is the right one for you. Jazz has that aura of a laid back, relaxed, sophisticated and successful person and brings out this side in everyone. The ‘Great Gatsby’- like environment will encourage customers to spend more and buy more expensive things to treat themselves. After all, it’s holiday season, right?
For a store or business that targets the hipsters, the bearded lumberjacks, the misunderstood souls that like to dress trendy and have an impeccable image you must have a playlist that rises up to their expectations. Unique songs from alternative genres are required for the bohemian characters that come into your store. Make sure that you have high-quality sound for a better experience and that the songs are meaningful and deep.
There are a lot of Christmas songs in every different genre so pick up what suits your store and your type of clients. For example, if you have a trendy shop and most of your clients are teenage girls, Elvis Presley`s ‘Blue Christmas’ might be too boring and blue for them (pun intended) no matter how amazing the song really is.
My advice would be to avoid novelty music because few people appreciate it and others might even find the jokes in those songs offensive or too puerile for them. Try to incorporate some local music too and maybe a little folk in order to surprise your clients by being different than all the big companies out there and showing appreciation for their culture and traditions.
Another advice is to switch up the music from time to time. That time of the year is saturated with Christmas songs, decorations and fake Santa’s, so maybe a walk in your shop could be like fresh air for some.
Researchers say that a 60/40 percent of holiday and regular music works best for a retail shop and makes both customers and employees happy. Don’t forget the fact that the non-holiday songs should match the overall style and that they should blend well in the playlist.
Volume is a really important element too in order to take the shopping experience to another level and by controlling it, you could also control the increased profits. In my opinion, the volume can be changed throughout the day or the week depending on what and how many clients do you have.
Elder people don’t generally like blasting music, so you can turn it down when you have this category of clients. Also, if it’s morning and there are very few clients in the store, maybe they have a day off or just want to avoid the cluster of people shopping in the evening, after work. This would be a good occasion to play music at a lower volume and relax the atmosphere a bit.
Make sure you don’t start playing carols too early! Is really important to be mentioned because nowadays holiday season begins months before Christmas itself and it’s just a tactic to sell more and push consumerism even further. While we want, of course, to make more money, our customers are not stupid and cannot be fooled very easily, which is a good thing because we don’t want that type of clients in our store. It’s annoying that we can now hear Christmas songs even before Halloween and it just makes you think that the year is almost over and brings out nostalgia instead of joy. Remember, we want our clients to be happy!
It can take time to make the perfect playlist that includes both holiday and regular songs, that is long enough, matches the store’s vibe, doesn’t include too much mainstream music but only enough to make customers sing along and that is fit for different ages, but it is definitely worth it. Start preparing it early so you don’t stress in the last moment and listen to it, see if it works and improve it constantly.
If the songs should have another order change it, make the playlist longer if it is too short and solve these little problems in time. Ask your friends to give their honest opinions on it too because the view from the outside matters a lot. Don’t be afraid to start and don’t let yourself get overwhelmed because you will have the most beautiful collection of Christmas songs and it will only get better from year to year. Good luck!
