Music information system for bookstores

Effective usage of background music has an important impact on businesses nowadays. In light of previous studies, it can be said that background music has a significant effect on factors such as: "Mood of customers", "Satisfaction of customers", "Total time spent by customers", "Performance of salespeople", "Total sales of the bookstore" and "Possibility to revisit of customer" which are important for a business. The purpose of this study is to use "Music Information System" in a bookstore to increase the effects of background music on these factors. "Music information system" works with "Music control devices" which are placed to each department properly. These devices perceive customer arrival to play and pause the background music in the related departments according to themes of the departments. The system differentiates background music of each department instead of one stable background music which is dominant in every place. Music starts when a customer approaches the related department and pauses when the customer leaves. At the same time, the system sends information of the customer arrival belong the related department to main computer to make it possible to be monitored by managers. The system is designed to use music in a more dynamic and interactive way to increase its benefits for bookstores. The effects of different thematic background music usage and department classifications of bookstores are investigated in this study. A questionnaire was applied to employees (usually managers) of the local bookstores in İzmir, Turkey to define the essential departments where "Music Information System" should give service for and see the expectations of participants from this system. According to results, the "Music information system" was designed for "Kırmızı Kedi Kitabevi" and tested for one week. After that, a questionnaire was applied to customers who experienced the system and interviews were conducted with managers of the "Kırmızı Kedi Kitabevi". Results show that "Music information system" affects these factors in a positive way: "Mood of the customers", "Satisfaction of the customers", "Total time spent by customers" and "Performance of the salespeople". On the other hand, it is also approved that the system has no significant effect on the factors which are: "Total sales of the bookstore" and "Possibility to revisit of the customers". The most important contribution of this thesis to the literature is to reveal the advantages and disadvantages of using different thematic background music in different departments of the store. Keywords: Thematic Background Music, Bookstore, Music Information System.