Imagine you are selling a used car on eBay. You will demand a higher price for the car if your toddler is sitting on your lap, says surprising new research from the December issue of the Journal of Consumer Research. Researchers from the University of Toronto found that simply thinking about a personal relationship causes sellers to set a higher price, even if the relationship is not directly related to the transaction.
A groundbreaking new study in the December issue of the Journal of Consumer Research finds that now-or-never buying situations (most commonly experienced at destination retailers) create a notable exception to buyer’s remorse. Instead, consumers are more likely to experience immediate regret for not making the purchase.
A new study tested how well people used a camera after learning about its functions two different ways: Either through an interactive virtual rendition or through text and static pictures. It found that though virtual experiences improved people’s memories of the camera’s functions, it also increased false positives — that is, more people believed it could do things that it couldn’t do.
The richest 2 percent of adults in the world own more than half of global household wealth according to a path-breaking study by the Helsinki-based World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University (UNU-WIDER). “World Distribution of Household Wealth,” is the first study of its kind to cover all countries in the world and all major components of household wealth, including financial assets and debts, land, buildings and other tangible property.
A report by Consumer Reports in the US indicates that eighty three percent of chicken sold in US grocery stores may contain bacteria that cause foodborne illnesses, either campylobacter or salmonella bacteria or both. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA), however, says the study was flawed.
The results of the first large-scale empirical study of how consumers consider risks and benefits when deciding whether to purchase or use specific nanotechnology products will appear in the December 2006 issue of the journal Nature Nanotechnology. The article’s lead author, Steven C. Currall and co-author, Neal Lane, will report their findings at a program at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 5, at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Creativity and emotion are what makes advertising successful, not the message it is trying to get over, new research shows. Dr Robert Heath, from the University of Bath’s School of Management, found that advertisements with high levels of emotional content enhanced how people felt about brands, even when there was no real message.
This holiday season, gift-givers may unwittingly give their favorite athlete a workout accessory that can double as a tracking device. Computer scientists at the University of Washington show potential breaches of privacy related to the Nike+iPod Sport Kit.
The turbidity of red wine during its ageing in oak casks has an influence on the accumulation of volatile compounds and, thereby, on the wine’s aroma, but not on the accumulation of biogenic amines. This is the conclusion of Nerea Jim?nez Moreno in her PhD thesis defended at the Public University of Navarre.
The Environmental Protection Agency of USA has decided to regulate a large class of consumer items made with microscopic “nanoparticles” of silver, part of a new but increasingly widespread technology that may pose unanticipated environmental risks, a government official said.