Melodic indie and birdsong — how Granit creates the right atmosphere in its stores

Granit grew out of an idea to simplify. The story began in 1996 at a kitchen table, born of frustration over the never-ending challenge of storage. The focus was on function and simplifying life, with a vision of inspiring through the store environment — something that made Granit stand out compared to other similar businesses.

"Personal and inspiring has been the core philosophy since the day Granit started," says Elin Nilsson, Communications & Community Manager. The retail chain has grown since then but these values remain unchanged.

Licensed music has been played at Granit since the start, but during the pandemic they reviewed costs and switched to unlicensed music for several years.

"The range in the unlicensed world isn't very large. It became tiring, of course," says Emma Siggeson, Regional Store Manager.

In spring 2023, with the pandemic behind them, Granit began reviewing its entire brand, visual identity and content strategy: "How should we be perceived? How do we look on printed signs, digitally?" They decided they wanted a warm, more personal feeling in the stores and music naturally followed as an important project. They wanted to create a cohesion and translate Granit's philosophy into music: "How do you make this audible? How do you score this feeling?"

The collaboration with Music in Brands, which was later acquired by Royal Streaming, became the starting point — where Granit's contact person Hugo Perlskog was central throughout the process and the main person who helped the team develop the music strategy.

The first step was a joint workshop where some people from Granit, together with the music agency, produced a number of sample tracks to find the right feeling and "vibe" that best represents the brand. From that, different playlists were developed, where the agency's expertise about what is pleasant for customers to listen to in store was combined with Granit's desire to create variation throughout the day — to find the right energy depending on customer flow and pace.

The store employees' working environment was also an important aspect of the music strategy since they are the ones who listen to the music the most. They can also give input on which songs are less good, and those songs are removed.

"They are our most important people, who will meet the customer. They should have a pleasant environment and enjoy their work," says Emma. Then they can help customers better.

Depending on the time of day, the tempo of the music changes. In the late afternoon the pulse picks up a bit and on weekends — when the chain has its strongest sales days — a slightly higher tempo applies from opening to closing. The music is melodic indie, "almost bordering on elevator music, but more uptempo," explains Elin.

The agency emphasized that it would have a much better effect if they played licensed music, and Emma agrees. She says that the new music has really given the stores a lift:

Granit wants to be original in its expression and therefore avoids radio hits. They don't want the song choices to feel too commercial or like typical picks. As part of the spring outdoor campaign they also added an audio file that played once an hour, consisting of spring birdsong.

Color-wise Granit has previously mostly stayed within neutrals, but just as their range strategy has developed, more color has crept in in recent years.

"It used to be black, beige, white and gray," says Elin. "Now much more color is coming in, so in some way the music is also more colorful today."