Asian Journal of Business and Management (ISSN: 2321 - 2802) Volume 02 – Issue 02, April 2014 Asian Online Journals (www.ajouronline.com ) 146 How Shop Environment Including Layout and Music can Out- power the Price of Items Sold? Beatrice Ng Miin Wei 1 , Rashad Yazdanifard 2 1 Center of Southern New Hampshire University Programs HELP College of Arts and Technology, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. E-mail: beatricebarbie {at} hotmail.com 2 Center of Southern New Hampshire University Programs HELP College of Arts and Technology Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia E-mail: rashadyazdanifard {at} yahoo.com _______________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT--- Music can become a very powerful marketing tool if used in the right way and at the right time. This is why in this paper we will be looking at how music can influence one’s purchasing behaviour. This is because music is able to influence one’s mood. Furthermore there are some benefits to playing music in stores. Plus there are certain types of music for certain target market and in this paper, it will be revealed which type of market prefers what type of music. Also the age of the customer and the type of music being played in the store also has a relationship. Music can also lead to an increase in one’s sales level. The type of music is important and so are the tempo, pitch and volume of the music. Besides that, the store environment that includes a couple of features like the light and color of the store is rather important. Not to forget the layout of the store. The store environment and layout also plays a part in attracting and making sales for the store. Keywords--- shop environment, layout, music and price of items _____________________________________________________________________________________________ 1. INTRODUCTION Have you noticed that stores that played interesting music that fits their target market would always have a lot of customers in their store? This is the power of music and it is able to influence customer’s purchasing decision. A lot of people may not notice that music does affect them in one way or another; it can be in a good way or bad. But music would really be able to influence your mood. According to a research done, music played in stores do have an impact on consumer behaviour (North, Hargreaves & McKendrick, 1999). Imagine walking into a store that sells what you are looking for and they are playing your favorite music and that leads you to feel like dancing in the store plus the store layout and environment is something that makes you feel comfortable and it provides a relaxing feeling, would it not be a great place to shop? Retailers must be passionate and pay more attention about the store environment because it would be able to affect their sales (Rubel, 1996). The store layout and environment should be able to entertain and keep customers to continue to browse in their shop (Yalch, 1993). This shows how the little things as we see it but it is actually very big if retailers paid more attention to them because they would directly and indirectly affect one’s perception and mood. 2. MUSIC HAS THE ABILITY TO INFLUENCE YOUR MOOD According to a research done, music played in stores do have an impact on consumer behaviour (North, Hargreaves & McKendrick, 1999). For some people, they listen to music every single day and if they like the songs, they would soon be able to sing to the song even though the song is not being played. This is the power that music has and it can create a feeling that only music can give. Upbeat music would be an example of music that it can influence your mood. Music that gives out a positive feel would make you feel positive and passionate about what is happening around you (Gitomer, 2013). When customers listened to the music that they liked, it would increase their brand choice (Gom, 1982, as cited in Yalch, 1993). A survey that was done on 52 retail managers and these managers found out that music actually has the ability to influence customer’s mood at a shocking rate of 82% (Burleson, 1979, as cited in Milliman, 1986). Sherman, Mathur and Smith (1997, as cited in Yalch and Spangenberg, 2000) did a survey and they found that there is a positive relationship between shopper’s mood, their interpretation of the store, the number of items purchased and the amount of time they spent in the store. Adaman and Blaney (1995, as cited in Callaghan and Growney, 2013) found that mood and