Do you partake in these often? How much do they sway your buying decision? I only try it if it's a product I'm interested in trying...not just a freebie. If I like it I will usually grab one. There are so many different brands on the shelf these days...I am hesitant to buy a new one without having tasted it first so I like when brands give samples of products in the store or through the mail.
I will only try one, and yes, I have used them in the past to sample new products before buying. Unfortunately, people often abuse samplings like this and many stores no longer offer them at all.
I have done this as a job, offering people samples and also organizing the events, so they do go on, but they usually do it as a launch or when a product is re branded. We used to get a lot of freebies, but it does help with brand promotions and if they have the item on special or with a coupon then it may help people try new brands. This was in the UK, so I think in other countries food and health hygiene standard vary, as all staff had to have certificates and there are store liabilities so the paperwork is sometimes too much for companies and expensive!
I generally make the rounds of the free samples to see if there's anything I like. It's a good way to try some new things that you might not normally buy. Often times, the free samples are something I never would have bought at the store before, but added it to my normal grocery list. For instance, at Costco, they had samples of the salted chocolate almonds and they were absolutely delicious. Found out they were a good deal and it's a nice treat for me that I normally wouldn't have bought
There were a lot of times I prefer to try out the sample of the food rather than just buy it by looking at it. I think one cannot thoroughly decide what to buy before sampling. I often end up regretting whatever I have bought when I do not try out the sample. I have seen many people trying out the different samples and that is when I realize that even I should be doing the same.
I'll usually try one...even if it's something I wasn't really considering, it's just one small bite, and who knows? Maybe it'll surprise me and be something I want to get after all. That's one thing we love about Costco, there's never a shortage of little samples hanging around .
Yes and yes. When I see free food I usually go for it, I mean it's free food I find most of the time they're pretty good, so when I come across it in the store later I pick up one or two. I think the only problem is that they don't really give free food anymore. So yeah I think it's worth it for the company and customers honestly. Nobody really loses unless it tastes disgusting.
Giving out samples can be a huge boost to sales. I talked my boss into doing this in a store that I used to work in, and it made a huge difference. People like to know what they're getting, especially if it's something new, unusual, or expensive. One area where I would like to see improvement in the big stores is either having a stack of product next to them, or being able to quickly and easily tell you where the product is located if you want to buy some (such as perishable items). The stores by me don't do this, and I don't want to look around for 20 minutes to find it.
Sometimes, I just taste something for the heck of it. If I really like it, I will buy the product. Otherwise, I just say that I will buy it next time.
I will try them out, as long as there is not a long line, otherwise I feel silly as if I'm standing in line at a soup kitchen or something like that. I figure, why let the food go to waste, the want us to try it out, it's not like we're stealing stuff from the business. Plus when I am with my folks shopping, particularly my mom, I like to get her to try the stuff out too because she typically only buys and eats the same old things over and over, and it gets really boring. Granted, you can walk into places like Costco and walk out full from eating all the samples. But on that same note, I pay for my membership there, so in effect I am paying for them one way or another. When I go to the mall, I always stop and get samples of the Bourbon Chicken from Asian Chao. Of course I end up ordering a whole meal of it too, but the sample tides me over while I am waiting in line. There is a travelling food show that comes to our neck of the woods each year, featuring Food Network TV personalities, along with a ton of food vendors who are passing out all sorts of samples. It's like $20 to get in, but the amount of free samples is amazing.
Not really. I'm not as poor as to need to get free food. If it would be something I would really be interested in, I guess, but I can't recall any time when that happened to me. It's usually wine, pastry or meat, and I don't exactly need any of these - I don't drink, and I won't really be swayed to buy some sausages or whatever.
When I try a new product and it turned out that I really liked it, I don't take it in with my cart right away. Because most of the time that I go to the grocery, I only have limited money for the items that are sufficient for me, I look on the items in my list which I can leave out in place for the product that I have just met that I want to buy. If I couldn't find one, sorry for myself, but I have to ditch that product. I'd have it for next time.
