Over 20% of Holiday Shoppers Would Leave a Store If It Played EDM, Study Says

'Tis the season to be jolly, but for some, the sound of electronic dance music while holiday shopping is as welcome as grandma's fruitcake—better left untouched.

While some embrace the holiday spirit with open arms, others are sprinting for the exit faster than a reindeer on Red Bull after hearing the genre in stores, according to a new survey from CouponFollow.

22% of respondents—most of whom probably prefer to hear Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" on an endless loop until February—indicated they'd leave a store if it played EDM while they were holiday shopping. When it came to the most repellent genres, EDM ranked sixth behind punk, country, hip-hop, gospel and metal, the lattermost of which was named the worst rhythm for retail.

Elsewhere in the study, dance music is listed as one of the top five genres to appear in shopping and retail playlists on Spotify. The others are pop, rock, hip-hop and adult contemporary.

The campaign's methodology lies in its analysis of Spotify data as well as a survey of 1,005 Americans to explore their retail shopping behaviors and categorize their responses based on their favorite music genres. 11% were baby boomers, 32% were Gen X, 48% were millennials and 10% were Gen Z (percentages don’t total 100 due to rounding).

You can read the full study here.