Hear it, Want it, Buy it! : A study of auditory stimuli as a primer of consumer choice in restaurants

Abstract: Purpose: To assess the effect of a higher price, consumer age, and consumer gender on the relationship between music and consumer choice of food in a lunch restaurant. Methodology: An inductive-deductive approach was used in a three-step study which consisted of three focus groups, an experiment as well as a survey investigation. Findings: While not statistically significant at the 0.05 level, conditioned music showed a small tendency to affect consumer choice of food in a lunch restaurant. The reason for this is arguably a higher price might disrupt the condition music. Age was found to be statistically significant on a 0.05 level. Gender however, was not found to be statistically significant at the 0.05 level. Keywords: Sensory marketing, Consumer behaviour, Perception, Music, Age, price, Gender