by Rebecca Walker — October 23, 2009—Shoppers with aching feet could spend more, says a new North American study on flooring in retail operations, according to a story in the Calgary Herald.
That’s because our own pain makes products look better, said the study’s author, Joan Meyers-Levy.
“I would evaluate the product as more comforting when I’m actually standing on the hard tile floor as opposed to the carpeted floor,” Meyers-Levy, a marketing professor in Minnesota, said Wednesday. “When you’re on tile, which feels bad . . . that product really looks good.”
The study, a joint project between the University of Minnesota and the University of British Columbia, was also conducted by UBC researches Rui (Juliet) Zhu and Lan Jiang.
It’s probably the first study to look at how flooring affects people’s assessments of products when they shop,” said Meyers-Levy.
In various experiments, students and volunteers were asked to evaluate different products a vase and a gift basket, for instance while standing on carpet and tile from different distances.
The study, Context Effects from Bodily Sensations, will be published in the Journal of Consumer Research some time in 2010. It was funded in part by the Humanities Research Council of Canada.
For more information, see the newspaper article.
