The road to the brand\u2019s global expansion began with a sample. In the early 2000s, married founders Starr and Luke \u201cL.A.\u201d Edwards sold their dips at farmers\u2019 markets in and around San Diego, clearing less than $15,000 in annual revenue.<\/p>\n
Plant-based dips weren\u2019t exactly mainstream at the time. They were more likely to be found in a farmers\u2019 market than a grocery or club store. Bitchin\u2019 Sauce was different \u2014 its ingredients, flavor profiles, almost everything.<\/p>\n
Eventually, the Costco buyer introduced Bitchin\u2019 Sauce to Club Demonstration Services, or CDS, the Advantage Solutions unit that provides product sampling services for Costco warehouses globally. That was the brand\u2019s big break. CDS launched Bitchin\u2019 Sauce\u2019s first roadshow in October 2015 at the Carmel Valley Costco in San Diego. That year, the brand was featured in 23 events.<\/p>\n
By 2019, CDS held 4,766 Bitchin\u2019 Sauce demonstrations. Sales rose from $14,500 to $5.8 million. The number of units sold leapt to more than 622,000, from less than 2,000 in its first year.<\/p>\n
“Sampling has always been a key ingredient for Bitchin’ Sauce,\u201d says L.A. Edwards, who serves as founder and vice chairman of Bitchin\u2019 Sauce, while Starr Edwards serves as president. \u201cOnce people taste it, they love it, and members aren’t shy about tasting samples at Costco. During our first roadshows, Starr and I took turns watching our two small kids, stocking the cooler and monitoring the booth. So, to see the program now operating nationwide with Advantage Solutions and CDS support is unbelievably Bitchin’.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Roadshows: Building Brands One Sample at a Time<\/h2>\n
When it comes to strategically building a new food brand, club retailer demos offer brands high visibility in a crowded marketplace, and Bitchin\u2019 Sauce\u2019s runaway success won the brand a spot in Costco\u2019s in-line\/everyday assortment. That is the power of sampling, says Amy Lang, president of CDS.<\/p>\n
\u201cCoupons, price drops and marketing campaigns can drive awareness and interest, but there is magic in the human desire to experience a product through touch, taste and talking to someone about how it can enhance their life,\u201d Lang says. \u201cThat is where real brand and product affiliation comes alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Its initial success sampling with CDS at Costco helped Bitchin\u2019 Sauce expand its distribution to more than 12,000 retailers and restaurants nationwide \u2014 effectively turning a farmers\u2019 market brand into a national \u2014 soon-to-be-global \u2014 phenomenon.<\/p>\n
Sampling, Sales, and the Power of Shopper Insights<\/h2>\n
Consider the roadshows at Costco. They usually run for consecutive days from Thursday through Sunday, and it’s an open-to-close event. As soon as a location opens its doors, samples are available for members until close. Samples usually offer a variety of items new at the club, and there may be two or three of the same item in different flavors. Plus, team members sharing samples know the ingredients, to whom it will appeal and they can provide suggestions on different ways to enjoy new products.<\/p>\n
The primary goal for the event is to test-drive new products with club members to determine which may emerge as the next best-seller. That gives buyers assurance that those items will be successful in a broader launch. For product manufacturers, getting featured in a demo offers unparalleled brand exposure to consumers who are in the market to try and buy.<\/p>\n
\u201cSampling is all about bringing in excitement for new items,\u201d says Maria M. Manzano, senior director of sales, Canada and Mexico, Advantage Solutions. \u201cIt\u2019s a different shopping experience for consumers \u2014 almost like a treasure hunt at the floor level.\u201d<\/p>\n
Demonstrations and sampling are effective because they offer a personalized, cost-effective way for consumers to ensure they like a product before making a purchase. As a retail marketing strategy, that\u2019s important for club retailers because it\u2019s not a regular supermarket offering neatly packaged items in smaller sizes. Consumers at club retailers often have to purchase in bulk.<\/p>\n
According to a 2023 Halverson Group Survey, some 94% of Costco members say they prefer to sample before making a purchase. Demos offer a small piece of a bigger-ticket item \u2014 for free.<\/p>\n
Sampling also gives brands an opportunity to interact more closely with consumers. CDS\u2019s experienced employees directly interact with hundreds or even thousands of consumers each day, and they\u2019re experts in pitching, educating and selling \u2014 fueling Advantage\u2019s expertise in shopper insights.<\/p>\n
Product demonstrations represent \u201ca premium opportunity to drive brand awareness and educate people on the versatility, attributes and benefits of a new product,\u201d Manzano says.<\/p>\n
Costco\u2019s sampling program also is key to the warehouse chain\u2019s overall consumer experience. Nearly half of respondents in the member survey said food samples are very important to their overall shopping experience. But the retail marketing benefits associated with demos aren\u2019t limited to edible products. Manzano said they \u201ccan apply to everything in our world, not just food or club retailers. We do demos on coffee machines, vacuums, blenders, hair dryers, all kinds of beauty products. The sky’s the limit.\u201d<\/p>\n
You never know. A sample you encounter could turn into the next Bitchin\u2019 Sauce. And it\u2019s in part thanks to the power of product demonstrations conducted by companies like CDS and Advantage Solutions.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt CDS, our team gets excited about every product they get to demonstrate,\u201d says Lang. \u201cThey love seeing shoppers engage with product and discover something new to enhance their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s not easy to build a new brand. Competition for shelf space is fierce, consumer preferences are fickle and many hesitate to make a purchase when packaging sizes veer toward bulk status. Enter demonstration sampling and the power of the \u201croadshow,\u201d an experiential marketing event that makes it easy for consumers to try before they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2913,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"mrktblog-category":[41],"class_list":["post-2912","mrktblog-posts","type-mrktblog-posts","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","mrktblog-category-advantage-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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