"I'm wirting about a box. This is a box with a sense of history.. Anyone who receives it can recall the first time, exactly where they were, who was giving it to them and, most important, why."

This opening to Christian Davies's essay Ode to a Little Blue Box is not so much about the container but its iconic Tiffany packaging. Davies is not the creative vice president of Global Design & Innovation at Starbucks, and his words explain why companies invest millions to find the right weights and textures for their barands. This is the science of haptics - interaction involving the sense of touch - and it's a critical factor in consumer-purchasing decisions.

Haptics is a powerful form of nonverbal communication, which explains how the things we touch shape the way we feel. Although the concept has been around for decades, our understanding of haptics is deepening by the day.

In retail, touch really can be golden