2023-12-06 22:48:48
At a time when store traffic remains on a downward trend, retail players want to offer their customers new experiences. The transformation of places of sale into “places of experience” involves the implementation of new services (repair, second hand, etc.), but also through more sensory levers such as the sound environment.
The Lacoste boutique on the Champs-Elysées with the sound structure set up by the Midi agency – DR
If the traditional store playlist is nothing very new – which has never entered and then left a store so quickly due to music that is too loud – the use of sound at points of sale evolved.
When a customer enters one of the seven fitting rooms of the Balzac Paris boutique, in the 10th arrondissement of the capital, audio content is triggered. First a little jingle then, a few seconds later, a clip of around twenty seconds during which Chrysoline de Gastines, the co-founder of Balzac, tells short stories around her brand or talks regarding a particular product, like this bag that a customer might have passed by during their visit.
“The fitting room is a privileged place in which the customer finds herself in direct contact with the brand’s products. It is a good time to listen to the brand’s values or new products, for example,” explains Charles Noirclerc, who developed this system for Balzac Paris with Midi, his agency specializing in musical experiences in stores that he created in 2018 with Adrien Fournis.
Their area of expertise? The sound and musical identity of points of sale. Midi Agency therefore offers playlists, made up of existing pieces or creations, in line with the brand’s DNA, but also experiences around sound.
“In-store music programming has existed for twenty or thirty years, but it is an area which is reaching the end of a cycle. Our clients even tend to reduce the budgets allocated to the design of playlists, or to put it elsewhere thing, or because, with the various existing software, they think that they can create their playlist alone. On the other hand, they are looking for much more unique and innovative sound proposals”, explains Charles Noirclerc.
For the end of year celebrations, the Lacoste teams designed a Plexiglas structure that looks like a Lego construction for the brand’s Champs-Elysées flagship. A device that Midi has put into sound and light thanks to an eight-key keyboard (one key for a bass sound, the other for vocals, etc.) with which the customer can create his music but also his lighting atmosphere and becomes thus the conductor of the structure.
The fitting rooms of the Balzac Paris boutique – DR
Still for Balzac Paris, which in addition to its boutique now has corners in department stores, Midi recovered old rotary telephones. When they ring and a customer answers, she is invited to take part in blind tests or competitions to win discount vouchers.
And sometimes the soundscape rhymes with experimentation. For L’Occitane en Provence, with whom Midi has been working for more than a year on point-of-sale music, the agency created a box that plugs into a computer and connects to a plant via two sensors. The electromagnetic energy generated by the plant is thus transformed into sound. This audio device of another kind, which will soon be revealed in a video, will perhaps subsequently turn into audio chapters which will punctuate the musical programs of L’Occitane en Provence stores.
However, one question remains unanswered. Does a good musical atmosphere influence the act of purchasing? “There is no scientific study to date on this subject. What we know is that with pleasant, rather soft music, the customer will stay longer in the store. More sustained music “accelerates the heart rate and therefore decision-making. Certain stores, for example, choose more rhythmic music at busy times”, concludes Charles Noirclerc.
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