As brands and retailers relaunch in-store product sampling, eight in 10 consumers \u2014 and nine in 10 club store members \u2014 are interested in these one-to-one in-store experiences, according to \u201cShopper Interest in Sampling Runs High,\u201d a report based on a July survey of more than 1,000 U.S. adults by Advantage Customer Experience, a division of Advantage Solutions.<\/p>\n
A year and a half into the pandemic, as some uncertainty surrounding the Delta variant looms, consumers\u2019 attitudes and behavior reveal shoppers\u2019 fondness for in-store sampling and the <\/strong>customer experience in retail stores<\/strong> \u2014 and support its comeback.<\/p>\n \u201cAs safety protocols continue to emerge and familiarity with the \u2018new normal\u2019 sets in, we are seeing a build in return of one-to-one experiences and watching shoppers feeling comfortable to engage,\u201d said Andrea Young, president, Advantage Customer Experience. \u201cPeople still love human contact and the experience of trying new things, especially when there\u2019s no cost and no risk involved.\u201d<\/p>\n For those interested in sampling, the opportunity to try before they buy remains a powerful influencer on the decision to make a purchase. Nine in 10 (87%) of these fond-of-sampling shoppers say if they enjoy a sample, they’re likely to buy the product during that store visit. Nearly as many (78%) say they\u2019re likely to buy the product during a later visit to the store and six in 10 (58%) are likely to pick up the product at another store.<\/p>\n Nearly 90% of these shoppers say they\u2019d take a sample that is individually packaged and eight in 10 would try a sampled cooked in front of them (82%). Three-fourths (77%) are likely to try a nonfood product sample and two-thirds (68%) will sample an unwrapped food item.<\/p>\n The Advantage Customer Experience survey reveals the potential of sampling extends beyond new-product trial. Nearly half (45%) of all shoppers say they enjoy sampling items they\u2019ve purchased previously; 51% of club store members do. Almost one-third (31%) say they sometimes buy a different product made by a brand they\u2019ve sampled; four in 10 club store members (39%) extend their post-sampling buying to a brand\u2019s other products.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As brands and retailers relaunch in-store product sampling, eight in 10 consumers \u2014 and nine in 10 club store members \u2014 are interested in these one-to-one in-store experiences, according to \u201cShopper Interest in Sampling Runs High,\u201d a report based on a July survey of more than 1,000 U.S. adults by Advantage Customer Experience, a division […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2535,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"advantage360-category":[46],"class_list":["post-2537","advantage360-reports","type-advantage360-reports","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","advantage360-category-shopper-study"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSampling Still Influences Shoppers to Buy<\/h2>\n
The Opportunity Beyond New Product Trial<\/h2>\n