海大源分享2015海南MBA考生英语阅读材料:音乐销售，希望对考生有帮助。
Online shopping is an under-explored area of merchandising musicology. A new studycommissioned by eBay, a shopping website, aims to correct that. Some 1,900 participants wereasked to simulate online shopping while listening to different sounds. Some results wereunsurprising. The noise of roadworks and crying babies soured shoppers views of theproducts on offer. Chirruping birds encouraged sales of barbecues but not blenders or boardgames.
Sounds associated with quality and luxury seemed to be hazardous for shoppers wallets. Thestudy found classical music and restaurant buzz caused them to overestimate the quality ofgoods on offer and to pay more than they should. That backs up earlier research which foundthat shoppers exposed to classical music in a wine store bought more expensive bottles thanthose hearing pop.
EBay wants consumers to avoid such unhealthy influences when shopping online. It hasblended birdsong, dreamy music and the sound of a rolling train—thought to be pleasant butnot overly seductive—to help them buy more sensibly. Retailers could presumably counter bycranking up the Chopin. “Classical music does seem to be the way to go” if your only interest isthe narrow one of squeezing as much money as possible from your clientele, says the studysauthor, Patrick Fagan, a lecturer at Goldsmiths, part of the University of London.
Few traditional shops are likely to use that tactic. H&M, a clothes retailer, airs “trendy,up-tempo” music from new artists, while Nespressos coffee boutiques go for “lounge-y”sounds, says Mr Nahon. Grocery stores, with a broad following, play top 40 hits. The tempotends to be slower in the mornings, when shoppers are sparser and older, and becomes moreallegro as the day goes on.
翻译：
网上购物是销售音乐学有待开发的一个领域。由购物网站eBay委托进行的一项新研究就是为了完善它。约1900名参与者被要求在不同的背景声音下模拟网上购物。一些结果并不让人意外。道路施工的噪音以及婴儿的哭声让顾客对所提供的商品感到失望。鸟的叽喳声有利于烧烤工具的销售而不利于搅拌机或棋盘类游戏的销售。
与品质和奢华相联系的声音似乎可以使顾客的钱包大出血。研究发现古典音乐和餐厅的杂音可以使顾客高估所提供的商品的质量，并使他们的花销比本应该的更多。这一点支持了一个早期研究发现：在酒行里，暴露在古典音乐中的顾客会比听着流行乐的顾客购买更贵的酒。
EBay希望消费者在网购时能够避免这些不健康的影响。混合了鸟鸣、梦幻般的音乐以及火车转轮声的音频—被认为是令人愉悦的，但不过于诱人的音乐—使得顾客购保持理智的同时又购买更多的商品。零售商们想必会通过把播放着肖邦音乐的音箱声音调大来彼此竞争。Patrick Fagan，伦敦大学分部—金史密斯学院的讲师，该研究报告的作者称：“古典音乐似乎就是正确的选择”，如果你唯一的兴趣就是狭隘的想要从你的客户身上榨取尽可能多的钱。
很少有传统商店会使用这一策略。Nahon先生说，服装零售商H&M会播放来自新兴艺术家的“新潮，快节奏”的音乐，而雀巢咖啡精品店会选择“lounge-y”这类懒洋洋的音乐。有着广泛顾客群的杂货商店会播放排行榜前40名的单曲。早上，顾客比较稀少且多为老年人时，就播放节奏舒缓的音乐，而随后逐渐变快。
