Can sound change how we shop?
Location
Xplore Studio Copenhagen
Published Date
November 6, 2026
Partner
What if the sounds around us could change how we shop? Xplore Studios and IKEA Denmark explored how sound can make shopping clearer, calmer and more inspiring.
Think of the last store you visited. You probably remember the layout, the lighting or something you wanted to bring home. But can you remember what it sounded like? It's harder than it seems. We hear everything in a store and notice very little of it. We spend time choosing colours, materials and lighting, while sound often gets little more than a playlist. Yet sound can shape how we feel, often without us realising it. A familiar melody can bring back a memory. The right atmosphere can help us relax. So what if we gave sound the same thought as everything we see in the shopping experience? That was the starting point for an exploration by Xplore Studios and IKEA Denmark, together with the IKEA Copenhagen store. The team wanted to discover whether sound could make shopping more inspiring, help people feel at ease and make it easier to explore the IKEA range.
It's not just about the music
A store is full of different moments. You're choosing a mattress, looking for ideas for your living room or finding a smarter way to organise a small space. Each moment asks something different of you.
Instead of asking, “What music should we play?”, the team asked: “What should each sound do for the customer?”
A calm, spacious sound might help people slow down when choosing a mattress.
A little more energy could bring life to the journey between floors. And the sound of a pan sizzling might help a furnished kitchen feel more like home.
Sound is more than music, too. A checkout beep, a voice in the background or a familiar notification can all shape how we experience a brand.
The aim wasn't to add more noise. It was to find where sound could make a difference — and leave it out when it couldn't.
Learning from real life
Ideas are a good place to start. But to understand what works, you need to see how people experience them in real life.
Over four months during the summer, IKEA Copenhagen tested sound designed for different areas, alternating these days with days using the store's usual music.
The team combined sales data and sensor-based observations of customer movement and dwell time with conversations on the shop floor and with people leaving the store.
What stood out? People often talked less about what they heard and more about how the place made them feel.
In the bedding area, two friends described the atmosphere as “nice and calm”.
A couple nearby said it felt “a bit like walking on clouds”.
Another pair captured the potential benefit in a way many shoppers will recognise: “When shopping you have many decisions to make and it can be stressful, the calm music takes the pressure off.”
Elsewhere, voices talking about food got one shopper thinking about pancakes. Someone else said the voices sounded “like a podcast”.
Not every sound worked for every space. After visiting the storage area, one mother told the team: “I just wanted to get out of there.”
That's part of learning, too. What feels inviting in one area might be distracting in another. There isn't one sound that works for everyone, everywhere.
Small details, new possibilities
The exploration is helping the team understand how sound could become a more thoughtful part of the IKEA experience. It also raises an important question: could a better experience create value for customers and the business?
Customer feedback helps us understand how people feel. Observations and sales data help investigate whether their behaviour changes, too. More analysis is needed before drawing conclusions about business impact or deciding what could work on a larger scale.
For Xplore Studios, this is innovation in practice: starting with a real opportunity, trying things out, learning from people and using those lessons to make the next idea better.
Take a moment to listen
Next time you visit a store, pause for a few seconds. Listen to the music, the little beeps, the voices and the sounds around you. Do they help you feel calm, give you energy or inspire an idea for home? Or do you barely notice them?
Maybe that's the point. The best sound doesn't always need to be noticed. Sometimes, it simply helps a place feel right.
And that could be one more way to make everyday life a little better.
About
Xplore Studios explores new opportunities for IKEA through collaboration, experimentation and learning from real life. Together with IKEA Denmark and IKEA Copenhagen, the team is exploring how sound could help create a better shopping experience for the many people.
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