••• shopper insights
Back in a shopping mood?
With COVID-19 lockdown measures easing in some spots around the world, just under three-quarters of global consumers (71%) now report feeling comfortable returning to physical stores since local lockdowns have eased, according to research published by Mood Media.
In partnership with Censuswide, the firm surveyed over 8,000 consumers across four major markets – the U.K., U.S., China and France – and found that while almost half (49%) of global consumers believe they might catch COVID-19 in-store, 80% feel comfortable with the new safety measures set in place, with the requirement of “all visitors wearing masks” cited as the most important measure that helps drive a sense of safety. Of the countries surveyed, the U.S. population stands out as the most worried about catching COVID-19 in-store (60%), with the French expressing the lowest degree of concern about this possibility (39%).Thirty-one percent of consumers surveyed said they are spending less money and less time shopping in-store than they did before COVID-19, compared with 21% spending the same amount of money but less time than before and only 3% spending both more money and more time than before the pandemic.
••• consumer psychology
Music to not work by
Maybe all those streaming-service playlists to help you get more done are doing you a disservice. U.K.-based online marketplace OnBuy surveyed 3,000 people, enlisting them to complete 10 short tasks to find out how many they could complete with a selection of songs playing. People on average found that “My Love” by Sia, “Real Love” by Tom Odell and “I Wanna Be Yours” by Arctic Monkeys were among the most productive songs to study to, with people completing six of the 10 tasks through the duration.
“Secret Garden” by Bruce Springsteen and “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” by Bobby McFerrin were also among those that increased productivity and concentration, with people also completing six of the 10 tasks.
Despite being a popular song, “I’m So Excited” by the Pointer Sisters was the worst song for productivity. People only completed two of 10 tasks while listening to it. Also among the worst songs to be productive to was “Roar” by Katy Perry and “Dancing With Myself” by Billy Idol, with all participants also completing two out of the 10 tasks while listening to them.
The study also found a general correlation with the beats per minute (BPM) of a song: The lower the BPM, the more productive people were. The participants completed an average of five tasks per song with no music and performed 0.7 fewer tasks when listening to music rather than no music at all.