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Free Samples Pleasing More Crowds

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By MARY SHEDDEN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 19, 2007

TAMPA - Admit it. Everybody loves freebies.

Head to the local supermarket or wholesale club. Shopping carts there aren't programmed to find the lady grilling meatballs. That's human nature driving the traffic.

The samples provide just a little taste, but more important, they're free. That makes it irresistible to shoppers and the manufacturers desperate for new business.

"It's part of our job to sell a product, but it doesn't feel like it. People are always approaching you. You don't even need to try," said Lucy Zuzuarregui, a 28-year-old who three months ago entered the world of demonstration marketing at places like a local Winn-Dixie supermarket.

Supermarket chains, retailers and manufacturers across the country have grown to depend on these "taste, touch, smell and see" promotions to the tune of $2 billion a year, according to the Supermarket News trade publication. It's an important investment in an environment where 30,000 new supermarket products a year are introduced to an increasingly skeptical public. And it appears to work – boosting impulse sales as much as 200 percent on promotion days as product manufacturers battle to change shoppers' spending habits.

"You walk into a modern supermarket and you're hit with 200 choices of breakfast cereal," said Shel Horowitz, author or "Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts Customers First." "Unless you taste [a new brand], you will stick with the tried and true."

In-store sampling is a hybrid operation, bringing together manufacturers, retailers and outside agencies specializing in finding the labor to serve and cheerfully present new products. All three are motivated: they want you to buy these predominantly brand-new items as well as create a loyalty to their stores.

Retailers control who, where, when and what is promoted in their stores. Vendors schmooze and lobby for the opportunity, and often pay a small fee or offer sales data back to the store in exchange for coveted floor space and valuable time with potential customers.

In the case of most name-brand products, retailers tap a pre-approved third-party agency to handle labor and supplies. Most likely, you'll see samplers out on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

"We try to focus our sampling on key time periods where we can make the most impact and where sales are at their peak," said Maria Chillura, manager of culinary strategy for Tampa-based Sweetbay Supermarket.

Just the idea of free samples can drive customers to a store. Chillura said 70 percent of consumers are likely to shop at a store they know offers samples regularly. And once inside, a free sample influences an impulse buy 68.5 percent of the time, a Promotion Marketing Association survey showed.

"Customers today are more comfortable sitting it out and waiting" for a product to prove itself, said Peter Rose, a partner at Yankelovich Inc., a marketing firm that has tracked shopper attitudes for more than 30 years. A taste test can change that, he said.

Demos are such a draw for some retailers they're incorporated into everyday shopping. David Rodriquez, director of demonstration operations for 586 U.S. Sam's Clubs, said the chain held 1.9 million "demos" of food, cleaning supplies, electronics and other products last year. In 2007, they're averaging 39,000 a week.

The popularity of sampling led the Wal-Mart-owned company to create an in-house demo division staff 13 years ago. The 11,200 Sam's Club employees who hand out samples make up a tenth of the chain's entire workforce.

"There absolutely is an expectation in our clubs," he said. "It's a part of our culture."

The sample stations often make shoppers happier and hopefully encourage them to spend more, Horowitz said.

"It makes a store an attractive destination, more of an entertainment option," he said.

It's also no mistake samples are incorporated in high-end and specialty grocers such as Whole Foods and Wild Oats. Eugene Fram, a senior marketing professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology, said the tactic often is used to encourage shoppers to try private label products from these costlier grocers.

"Brand loyalty is very fickle in this day and age," Fram said. "And retailers are trying to build their private brands, too."

Small vendors could have the most to gain from these promotions that are dominated by big-name companies such as Kellogg's and DelMonte Foods. Glory Foods, an Ohio company specializing in pre-packaged southern side dishes, has a better chance to sell itself during demo opportunities, marketing director Theresa Potter said.

Potter estimates about 20 percent of their marketing budget pays for in-store demos and special events.

Although sampling isn't effective as a sole form of marketing, Horowitz said, there's a lot of potential for a high return on investment.

"That little expense could sell several hundred dollars of products," he said. "It will pay for itself right there."

It's easy to see the immediate impulse impact of sample promotions, but experts agree it's harder to gauge long term effects. Sweetbay's Chillura said short-term sales boosts range from 10 to 200 percent. The store also tracks sales six to eight weeks later to judge its sustainability.

The third-party demonstration companies also remove a lot of the labor hassles and expense for vendors and retailers, said Caroline Cotton Nakken, chief executive officer of Mass Connections. The California-based company recently partnered with Winn-Dixie to coordinate its sample operations.

Mass Connections operates with an estimated 100,000-employee database, all of whom work on a freelance basis. About 8,000 to 10,000 are in Florida.

Thirty percent of Mass Connections employees are high school or college students. The rest are a mix of adults and retirees interested in the flexible scheduling and the opportunity to make about $80 for a five-hour shift at stores including Target, Kmart and Winn-Dixie, she said.

Brandon retiree Kathryn Greco, a Mass Connections worker for eight years, schedules her "gigs" around visits to her sister in Daytona Beach, or her son's home. This past week, she's been part of the Brandon SuperTarget grand opening.

She said she has seen how much samples can affect immediate sales. People purchased 52 bags of frozen meatballs during one recent shift. But as with any job, she also sees sample abusers – people who come back over and over to fill their bellies on freebies.

"Sometimes they don't think I know, but I do," she laughed. "One lady ate four cups of my popcorn before she told me it was cold.''

Reporter Mary Shedden can be reached at (813) 259-7365 or mshedden@tampatrib.com.

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