That is the finding of an interesting study. Click on Study: You Touch It, You Buy It to read about it. This exerpt gives the basic idea:
"Participants in the study were shown an inexpensive coffee mug, and were allowed to hold it either for 10 seconds or 30 seconds. They were then allowed to bid for the mug in either a closed (where bids could not be seen) or open (where they could be seen) auction. The participants were told the retail value of the mug before bidding began ($3.95 in the closed auction; $4.95 in the open auction). The study, detailed in the August 2008 issue of the journal Judgment and Decision Making, found that on average, people who held the mug for longer bid more for it - $3.91 to $2.44 in the case of the open auction and $3.07 to $2.24 in the closed. In fact, people who held the mug for 30 seconds bid more than the retail price four out of seven times."
I am curious if any of my students have had experiences like this. Have you noticed buying something because you touched it? If so, why? Anybody work in a store where you encourage customers to touch the merchandise?
4 comments:
I worked in retail and People were more likely to buy a product if they were encouraged to hold it, feel it, and how it may have worked. The establishment also insisted on active sampling where the employee made sample of food and drink and went out to the customer and engaged in a conversation describing the product and letting the customer sample it. They were also encouraged to do the same at the register before the customer ordered.
I insist on touching, and trying a product before buying it except at the grocery store.
Thanks, that was interesting.
You say that you touch things before you buy them. Do you think it makes your more likely to buy those items?
I myself have never worked in a store where people could touch things. While this makes obvious since, because anytime you go to a store, more often than not they encourage you to hold it, test drive it, taste it, try it on, so on and so forth. However, I feel this maybe an outdated myth in the business world, because if this were true, online shopping would not be as succesful as it is.
Thanks for dropping by and commenting. Good point about online shopping. I wonder if this rule applies differently to different products. If you order a book on Amazon, you don't really need to touch it. So maybe products where touching does not matter so much do better on the internet. Just a guess.
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