Try Some, Buy Some

In-store sampling events can boost trial and purchase of highlighted products – as well as turn stores into destinations.

Market Street, the 11-store chain owned by United Supermarkets, samples items “just about every weekend,” according to Eddie Owens, United’s director of communications and public relations. Owens explains that the Lubbock, Texas-based grocer is “focusing all our sampling activities” on the upscale banner.

In particular, Market Street’s expos — Healthy New You in January and Entertaining Made Easy in November — as well as its month-long focuses, including Best of Texas in July, are “very sampling-focused,” notes Owens. “For example, with Best of Texas, we’re sampling a complete array of different products each weekend, with representation from grocery, produce, food-service, bakery, market and beer/wine.”

As for what the chain aims to achieve with these events, Owens says, “Certainly, increased sales are always the desired outcome, but I think the chief deliverable with sampling is in promoting trial, especially with new products.”

Even for those grocers not prepared to sample product anywhere near as frequently as Market Street does, however, offering such events can still yield positive results — and not just as regards the bottom line.

The Balance Sheet and Beyond

According Giovanni DeMeo, VP of global marketing and analytics at San Diego-based Interactions, a Daymon Worldwide consumer experience marketing company that devotes about 80 percent of its business to in-store sampling events in the grocery and warehouse club channels, these results are “twofold: They give great feedback if a new product is being sampled, and they create a unique shopping experience.

“Sampling events not only impact sales on the day of an event, but also create loyal shoppers who repeat purchase and do so more frequently,” continues DeMeo, citing “empirically tested and unbiased” Interactions analytics. He notes that the responses of club shoppers and grocery shoppers are “not significantly different.”

Observing that the “majority of the time, the goal [of sampling] is to introduce the product and create trial and purchase, and/or to cannibalize category from competitors,” DeMeo points out that there’s yet another reason to hold such an event: “It could be to understand brand perception.” Above all, however, sampling “provides an opportunity to engage one-on-one with customers.” The upshot is a “significant difference in ROI” from such other promotional vehicles as displays or TPRs. This positive ROI then leads to more in-store sampling — what DeMeo refers to as a “self-perpetuating model.”

He’s also big on sampling seasonal products at the appropriate times of year, describing the practice as “a great way during an incredibly noisy time of year to break through the clutter” of products and promotions.

To ensure the most successful events whatever the time of year, Interactions works with its retailer clients, many of which it deals with on an exclusive basis, on their respective marketing calendars, developing unique themes and events, and then contacts suitable manufacturers to participate in them. The pool of manufacturers it has to choose from is large: 2,400 national brands, in addition to many smaller, regional brands. “There isn’t anyone we don’t work with,” says DeMeo.

“Research shows that in-store sampling increases product sales,” affirms Scott V. Bishop, VP marketing & technology at North Andover, Mass.-based C.A. Courtesy, which has worked with Stop & Shop, Market Basket and Giant-Landover, among other food retailers, on sampling events over 25 years in business. “Consumers want to try the item out before they commit to something and make a purchase. If a product is new and unfamiliar, it is the brand ambassador’s job to show the consumer why they need to trust the product. Whether it is a new allergen-free laundry detergent or a supercharged granola bar — consumers want to know what the main ingredients are, what it costs, and why they should switch up their regular grocery list.”

Further, C.A. Courtesy has discovered ways to sweeten sales even more during an event. “If it is a new product, we have found that pairing the in-store sampling with a coupon is a great way to increase product sales,” says Scott. “If it is a product that everyone knows and loves, we encourage our clients to pair the product with an unfamiliar product in their line. This way, the consumer is more likely to test out something else from a brand they know and trust.”

When it comes to optimal times of the week to hold sampling events, Scott emphatically agrees with Market Street. “The best days for sampling are typically Thursday-Sunday, and that is where we aim and suggest our clients to aim holding in-store sampling,” he says.

Aiming to Please

To ensure a successful sampling event, getting the right staff to run it is crucial.

“C.A. Courtesy trains our brand ambassadors to be the most friendly and engaging company representatives they can be,” says Scott. “We work with our brand ambassadors to make sure they are properly trained on the product they are sampling and educated on key facts that consumers may ask. We pride ourselves on our brand ambassadors’ ability to strike up friendly conversations with the consumers.”

These personable and knowledgeable staffers must also be fast. “Our brand ambassadors are trained to work quickly because in most situations they only have the shopper’s attention for less than 60 seconds,” explains Scott. “That is why we make sure our brand ambassadors know the product; we want them to be able to list off fast facts for the consumer’s convenience. Intense brand ambassador training is the best way to ensure [a] product’s in-store sampling success.”

Another key part of the job is recording shopper responses. “Our brand ambassadors’ jobs are not only to be engaging with the consumer to taste a sample, but also to gather consumer opinions and reviews of the product,” notes Scott. “This allows C.A. Courtesy to accurately report back to the client with real consumer insight.” Interactions’ associates also gather consumer insights to give manufacturers information on what samplers thought of the product.

With 45,000 associates in its database — about 33,000 based in the United States — among them chefs and aestheticians, Interactions makes sure its employees undergo rigorous, continuous training, with part of the preparation for an event including the creation of a script enumerating the unique attributes of a product, to help shoppers understand its benefits, and what the manufacturer and retailer want them to know about it, thereby sending “a clear message,” as DeMeo puts it.

In fact, just to get hired takes some effort. Recruiting potential associates via online and print ads, universities, and job fairs — all of which refer applicants to Interactions’ website — the company has hopefuls undergo various screenings and tests, as well as earn food safety certification, before they’re deemed ready to go out into the field.

This stringent hiring and training process results in long-term employees who soon become familiar figures to local consumers. “We do events on a regular basis in the same stores with the same associates, many of whom are on a first-name basis with regular shoppers,” explains DeMeo. “Customers are more accustomed to such events, making them much more likely to try the products offered, often on the recommendation of the associate.”

Shopper intercepts show that regular engagements work to increase the probability of participation, because of the sense of trust created with associates and ultimately retailers, he adds.

Among the distinctive services Interactions offers is that of mystery shoppers to attend sampling events covertly and engage with associates to ascertain such things as whether they are properly uniformed and make eye contact with shoppers, in that way helping to maintain quality control.

The reason for so much careful preparation and double-checking is pretty obvious to the company. As DeMeo observes, “It only takes one bad event for a manufacturer to say, ‘All right, I don’t want to work with you guys.’”

“The chief deliverable with sampling is in promoting trial, especially with new products.”
–Eddie Owens, United Supermarkets/Market Street

“Consumers want to try the item out before they commit to something and make a purchase.”
–Scott V. Bishop, C.A. Courtesy