Winchester Christmas lights were turned on last night and our shop played some Christmas music to get into the spirit of things. I hope that wasn’t a mistake because a survey released today says that 73% of shoppers don’t want to hear festive music until December. So today it’s quickly back to our usual CDs.

We’ve always played music in our shop to set the mood and it seems we’re on the right track (no pun intended) because 74% of 18-44 year olds enjoy hearing music in stores. To quote the company who commissioned the survey (who by amazing coincidence supply in-store music), ‘If customers actually like the tracks played in stores, they will stay longer.’ I think it’s more a case of if you don’t like the music you leave pretty sharpish.

I know I’ve walked out of some shops, where they’ve been playing music that offended my ears. That includes a sportswear store in the retail village part of West Quay which was playing hiphop music very loud. Of course that shop may have decided to ‘tailor their music to the tastes of their particular customer demographic’, as Mood Media Corporation put it. For Your Life Your Style, that means playing Michael Buble, Motown and other smooth classics.

Come the first of December, when we dust off our Christmas CDs, our customers will be treated to the greats of the swing era- Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole and Bing Crosby- making even the most familiar tinsel tune sound like classic gold. Actually this could turn out to be our secret sales weapon because shoppers’ favourite seasonal song turns out to be Bing Crosby’s White Christmas.

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