Product Sampling in the Age of Millennials: Is it worth your Marketing Budget?
CHANGE. It’s inevitable. In life as it is in marketing, but more so in marketing; where every new technological advancement brings about a new marketing strategy that can be used to gain more notoriety for your brand and thus more sales. However, certain products, like food and skincare, will always rely on the good ‘ole strategies of yesteryear, more specifically product sampling, especially with Millennials.
Product sampling has been used as a strategy since marketing was invented. It’s the idea of giving a small sample of your product to prospective consumers with the expectation of converting that sample into a sale. When looking at the CPG industry, in particular, the most effective strategy is to provide possible consumers in-store samples for the simple fact that it works. Don’t believe us? Try walking past a free sample next time you’re at Costco (it’s harder than you think). Even for college students, 84% of which have been reported to purchase a product after receiving a free sample. But if that’s the case, why are we seeing a decline in in-store purchases?
Even though Millennials, who are now between the ages of 17-36, are spending more per year on groceries, they are spending even more on experiences. Meaning, those product samples that college students like so much, are being converted to sales much more easily when given at an event versus in-store. This shift is primarily due to Millennials doing more online purchases than in-store/brick and mortar purchases. This isn’t only for clothing, but also with groceries, as more millennials use subscription grocery services to replenish their food supply rather than walk into a grocery store.
Considering this infamous generation is expected to outnumber all others and have an expected buying power of $1.4 trillion in 2020, all of this means that marketing departments need to start making the shift as of yesterday to event product sampling. In 2014 alone, a report found that brands realized an ROI increase of over five-to-one, due to experiential marketing events and strategies. Trust us when we tell you that you’ll experience an increase in ROI in 2020, especially when those event experiences are integrated with social media posts, discount codes, coupons, and positive booth interaction.
Ready to make the change into event product sampling? Give NeoSol Marketing & Promotions a call; we’re happy to help!
