I’ve always been interested in adapting proven “offline” marketing ideas in online ideas. Not only the placement of branded products on Eye level, but also price points, wording, text size, light, smell and even sound of offline stores are incredible interesting to me. Walmart, Macys and other companies analyze their customers for decades and there are so many tricks that probably work online as well, but never have been tried.
A Time magazine article about “the science of disgust” is just another eye opener to me. There is so much to learn and often an online store is not so far away from a “real” store around the corner.
“In a series of studies, the researchers [Fitzsimons and Morales, Duke and Arizona State University] found not only that some products-trash bags, diapers, kitty litter, tampons-evoke a subconscious feeling of disgust even before they’re used for their ultimate messy purposes, but they can also transfer their general ickiness to anything they come in contact with…
Any food that touched something perceived to be disgusting became immediately less desirable itself, though all of the products were in their original wrapping. The appeal of the food fell even if the two products were merely close together; an inch seemed to be the critical distance. “It makes no sense if you think about it,” says Fitzsimons. More irrationally still, the subjects were less comfortable with a transparent package than an opaque one, as if it somehow had greater power to leak contamination.”
