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Holding a Knife Before Purchase......For A Price?

I see a lot of discussion on how people like to actually HOLD the knives before they make a purchasing decsion. So I thought I would post these links.

But what was driving the effect? The team's initial hypothesis was that the behavior is driven by a classic Pavlovian response. "Behavioral neuroscience suggests that when I put something appetizing in front of you, your brain activates motor programs that lead to your making contact with that item and consuming it," Rangel explains. "We hypothesized that if there's no way for you to touch the item, then the Pavlovian motor response would be absent, and your drive to consume the item thus significantly lessened.

Consumers Will Pay More for Goods They Can Touch

Pavlovian Processes in Consumer Choice: The Physical Presence of a ...

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.

“The amazing part of this study is that people can become almost immediately attached to something as insignificant as a mug,” said lead author of the study James Wolf, who started the work while he was a doctoral student at Ohio State.

“By simply touching the mug and feeling it in their hands, many people begin to feel like the mug is, in fact, their mug. Once they begin to feel it is theirs, they are willing to go to greater lengths to keep it.”

http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/endowl.htm

I think this is good news for the knife show industry. There will always be a certain % of people who REQUIRE that they handle a knife before they buy it.................

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Tags: Knife, Show, economics, knife, pricing, shows

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Comment by Rick Cothren on November 19, 2010 at 14:55: I can say for sure that people will pay a higher price in person than online. I trade as gun / knife shows and consistently sell my knives for more than I could on ebay.
My motto: Feel free to pick it up, who knows you might fall in love with this and then we'll make a deal!!!

Comment by AlanN on November 2, 2010 at 20:32: I think kage is right on about the primary reason why, with knives, handling may lead to a purchase. While we may find something new to us at a show or dealer, in most cases we already had the desire for the item, or a like item, and finally got to actually handle it.
Where the final purchase takes place will vary. Many, maybe most, will handle it and then go to the net to buy it cheaper. A great number will buy the one they handle because they can see it meets their standards...centering, f&f, detent, etc., rather than doing a net purchase they may have to return or exchange because it's not up to those standards.
My view may be biased because Atlanta is knife store poor....really none that I've found. In many cases I'd be happy to pay a stores higher price to avoid the return/exchange hassle.

Comment by kage on September 29, 2010 at 23:10: It's like I always say... "Buying a knife is like buying a swimsuit. No matter how good it looks in the window, ya gots to try it on to see if it fits ya."

Comment by Trent Rock on September 29, 2010 at 20:39: It just means that the knife buyer will still buy in The Net. He will just pay a lower price than the guy at the knife show.