Most conversations about background music in business tend to gravitate toward cafés and restaurants, and for good reason. They are the spaces where guests spend the most time, and where atmosphere has the most obvious effect on experience. But retail is its own environment with its own logic, and the way music functions inside a clothing store, a bookshop, or a lifestyle brand is meaningfully different from how it works over a dining table. Understanding that difference is where the more interesting thinking begins.
In a café or restaurant, the primary goal of BGM is to shape how long guests stay and how comfortable they feel while doing so. The music works on mood and time perception, making a 45-minute lunch feel relaxed rather than rushed, or encouraging a solo coffee drinker to order a second cup instead of packing up. In retail, the objective shifts. Studies show that slower tempo music increases browsing time and encourages deeper exploration of a space, which in fashion, lifestyle, and specialty environments translates directly into higher basket sizes. At the same time, retailers with high transaction volumes and fast-moving foot traffic often benefit from slightly more energetic playlists that keep the floor moving without creating friction. The music is not setting the mood for a meal. It is managing the pace of a purchase decision.
Genre also plays a different role across these two contexts. In a restaurant, classical or jazz music signals premium positioning and raises perceived food quality, nudging guests toward higher-value orders. In retail, genre functions more as a brand signal than a quality cue. A streetwear store playing the same classical music as a fine dining restaurant would create an immediate mismatch between the sound and the space, no matter how well curated the playlist is. Research consistently shows that when music fits the identity of a brand, customers rate the experience more positively and are more willing to engage. The genre does not have to be sophisticated. It has to be coherent.
What this means practically is that a business operating across multiple formats, say a café inside a retail concept or a hotel with its own boutique, cannot apply a single music strategy across every space and expect it to work. Each environment has its own behavioral goals, its own guest profile at any given moment, and its own version of what congruence sounds like. Thinking about BGM at that level of specificity is still rare in Indonesia, which is precisely what makes it worth thinking about now.
Sources: Finance Monthly. (2026, March). How music influences consumer spending in retail and hospitality. | Van der Laan, L. N., & Golding, J. (2025). The impact of background music style on price thresholds for food and beverage products. Marketing Letters. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-025-09803-4 | Daily Business. (2026, March). How music affects customer behaviour in retail and hospitality settings.