Last Sunday, I visited the Hysan Place in Causeway Bay. There are 14 floors set up as commercial areas. Undoubtedly, the Hysan Place is an ideal shopping mall for customers.
The sound environment of Hysan Place is designed in a way that is typical of malls and large-scale commercial enterprises. The sound design of the Hysan Place is in two parts. The mall uses some lively pop music as the background music in the common area of the walkways and the atrium, and perhaps some of them are familiar with customers. When I stood at the middle of the atrium, it was hard for me to hear the echo of pop music in the mall’s open spaces.
So I began to find the location of the speakers. Unlike other large shopping malls, I found that the speakers of this mall were arranged in a wraparound way between each floor and the floor above. (I have circled it in red in the picture below) All these speakers used embedded way in the floor. It do not have some big speakers on the top floor.
The individual stores, on the other hand, each have their own programme music and it’s particularly suited to each store’s brand.
I took the escalator to the second floor and went to the Hollister which is a youth clothing brand from America. When I entered this store, I found it uses external speakers that were distributed in different corners. The sound volume is louder than the atrium of the mall. The further I went inside the store, the more obvious it became to hear. Like the walkways and the atrium in the mall, it also played some pop music but leaning towards American style pop songs, which seemed to coincide with the style of this brand—Southern California beach surfing style.
Then I went to the I.T, which is a clothing store that collects well-known clothing brands. Interestingly, different areas of the clothing brand have different programme music. For instance, the Korean girl's clothing brand area played the Korean pop song, and the American outdoor clothing brand area played some rap songs. (I can't upload sound file here so I use the video)
Afterwards, I visited a bookstore called “eslite誠品”. I have to say the programme music here was totally distinct from the stores which I mentioned before. Although I didn't recognize the individual tunes that were being played, almost all of them were classical music. The music was unnoticeable and played at a very soft volume. It was performed by strings and piano. This background music gives customers a quieter environment hence they can concentrate on their reading or studying.
After browsing the stores upstairs, I went to Level G, where the area of cosmetics is located. Not only was the light background music attracted me, but also the fragrance of the perfume. Most of the music selected here was pure music, separate from the pop music upstairs. This musical environment and the staff’s gentle attitude provide a relaxed and free consumer atmosphere for customers. In other words, it drives consumption.
At the end, I went to the kitchen floor, which is located on the 11th floor. In fact, there is no music here; instead, the sounds of consumers laughing and joking, as well as the sounds of the kitchen cooking have taken their place.
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