In tune with your customers

Music is a key, if underrated element in a store’s retail identity, writes Eoin Long, founder and managing director of LKM Music & Media Ltd.

The appropriate music has the potential to put people in the right mood, define the store’s image, attract customers and increase sales opportunities and revenue.

Below are six reasons as to why implementing a music  strategy can be beneficial to your business:

1. Building the right atmosphere – create and enhance the quality of the shopping experience;
2. Setting the shoppers pace – speed, rhythm and volume affect the pace of the customer flow;
3. Encouraging people to shop – certain types of music can act as a trigger for specific purchases;
4. Increasing productivity – scientific studies conducted on this topic indicate that staff are more productive when good music is playing;
5. Differentiating your brand – establishing your own identity is essential to growth and long-term success; and,
6. Creating a private space for customers – music can be used to mask sounds of voices and movements.

From a customer perspective, the essence of a visit to any retail store is the same, whether it’s a hardware store or a fashion store; the customer enters with a specific purchase in mind or to browse and contemplate future purchases. The aim is to convert customers, who know what they want, into multiple purchase customers and to make the potential customer a confirmed one.

From the moment customers enter your store, you have several merchandising options to inspire their purchases and mindset and none superior to sound. Visual merchandising can be  overpowering and blocked out by a consumer whereas music is singular and constant and its ability to alter the mood is greater than any other medium that affects the atmosphere, along with
lighting.

The crucial element of designing music for any brand or store is to know the target demographic and what they listen to, what makes them shop and what makes them leave. You can then design a
music profile and schedule that is unique to each store and its target customers. The music should be reflective of the brand but also match the customer footfall, be it a home DIYer, a female shopper or trade customer.

Having the appropriate music can be of benefit in every conceivable circumstance. I have never heard of anyone leaving a store because the music was too good.

DUAL MUSIC LICENCE OR NOT?

The Irish Music Rights Organisation Limited (IMRO), through an agency arrangement with Phonographic Performance Ireland Limited (PPI), has introduced a new system of music licensing for business. Since 1st January, 2016, under this arrangement IMRO administers the granting of copyright music licences, collection of royalties, and related activities on behalf of both organisations. This new arrangement for businesses in Ireland enables them to obtain both the IMRO and PPI copyright music licences through a single contract, receive a single invoice, make a single royalty payment, and liaise with a single licensing body.

Hardware Association Ireland has sourced a supplier of non-copyright music with specially designed playlists from three music libraries: Copyright, Royalty Free and Sound Alike; these could provide the right atmosphere in your premises. They also provide a complete, professionally recorded advert service or, if you prefer, you can record your own in-store advertisements from the comfort of your own office. Contact Jim Copeland on 01 2980969 for more details.

COMPLEX ISSUE

At the end of January, HAI visited the solicitor who dealt with the case of the hardware shop (Smyths, Mullingar) who took action against PPI a couple of years back. A member retailer, Skerries Hardware, came with us as they too are challenging PPI’s collection of fees. The solicitor clarified in no uncertain terms that the Association as an entity cannot take a case as we don’t directly receive invoice charges from IMRO/PPI. This is just one of the reasons why it’s quite complicated and the advice was quite clear that each business has to be considered on its own circumstances – some are successful in challenging, others aren’t.

Contact Jim Copeland on 01 298 0969 or jim@hardwareassociation.ie for more details about LKM Music and Media. 

This Business Support article featured in the March/April 2017 edition of The Hardware Journal.