To Sample, or Not to Sample... That is the Question

Remember the last time you visited a grocery store that gave out samples of something you particularly liked? How many samples did you have?

If it's something being scooped into a small cup, and given with a small plastic spoon, are you less likely to go back for a second sample? As opposed to a bin with what seems like 4,000 grapes and a heap of toothpicks next to it... How about then- most likely going to have more than one grape?

When I sample food items in a grocery store, particularly fruit items, I am very likely to pick up 2 or 3 chunks of fruit just with one toothpick. Multiply that by several run-throughs, and you'll find that a few people like myself could deplete an entire produce section in a mere hour.

Now, naturally I expect that studies have shown that offering free samples actually does entice more customers to buy a particular product, but to what extent?

Do some companies, like Whole Foods, just experience a large enough profit overall that they can afford to give out free samples, making people more likely to return to the store again and to buy various other items in doing so? Is that the idea? I rarely ever see a Safeway or Giant giving out samples. In all honesty, though, thinking about the free samples when I walk by a Whole Foods is actually what does draw me inside more often than not. If that's the company's goal, then good job! I get sucked in for the cream cheese dips, the guacamole, the grapes, the occasional strawberries, the shakes, crackers, tortilla chips, and not as often the cheese.

*Whew*

And once I'm inside, I try my hardest to resist buying something. However, it seems that right next to each free fruit display, there seems to be a big stack of something that's on sale. Sometimes the deal is too good to pass up. Other times, I feel that any profit the company might potentially make on my frozen fruit purchase has already been undone in the form of free samples that I've consumed earlier in the adventure. For me it's a moot point.

Tell me how you behave when the free samples go out, and what motivates you to go into a store. I go to Safeway for the low prices, and often only buy Sale items. I go into Whole Foods for the free samples, and on the off chance that I do buy something, you can bet it's on Sale.

So, what's a company really get when it puts out free samples in its grocery stores? Return in the form of more frequent customer visits, or return in the form of selling more of the item on display?