• Science Daily, Bloomberg, Friday, January 30, 2009 11:15 AM

Now science has confirmed what car dealers ("why don't you take it for a spin?") and pet-store clerks ("let me open the cage so you can play with Fluffy") have always known: You can't touch a product on Amazon.com and savor its essence. In fact, an experiment by researchers from Ohio State University and Illinois State University recently revealed that in many cases, simply touching a coffee mug for a few seconds creates an attachment that led people to pay more for the item.

The results were published in the journal Judgment and Decision Making. Researchers found that people became personally attached to the mug within the first 30 seconds of contact. People who held the coffee mug longer than a few seconds seemed not only more compelled to outbid others in an auction setting, but they were also more willing to bid more than the retail price for that item.

Still and all, Amazon's stock price "soared" by 15% in early trading this morning after fourth-quarter sales and profit topped analyst's estimates yesterday, according to Bloomberg.

Amazon.com now sells products in more than three dozen categories, Joseph Galante reports, ranging from power tools to musical instruments. It even opened a site last year that offers more than 300,000 parts and accessories for motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles. The question, I guess, is whether I'd be more inclined to buy a Vesrah clutch kit if I held it in my paws for a few moments .

Read the whole story at Science Daily, Bloomberg »