Tempo and Mode Interaction

What it is

In a 2012 field experiment across three Swiss department stores over twelve trading days, slow tempo raised sales only for music in a minor key: sales were 12 per cent greater under slow minor-key music than under fast minor-key music, and tempo made little difference for major-key music. The authors did not measure time spent in the store and suggest it as a mechanism to test. It is drawn from work by Klemens Knoferle and colleagues (2012).

In effect

A store that plays slow songs in a minor key and slow songs in a major key on different hours, and compares hourly takings, is running the comparison the department store experiment used.

What it does not say

It comes from one field experiment across three stores over twelve trading days. It does not say that slow minor-key music raises sales in every shop, and tempo made little difference for major-key music.

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