Costco's Free Samples Are Returning, Even Though Samplers May Not

When Costco CFO Richard Galanti mentioned free samples will be back at the membership warehouse’s 550 U.S. locations by the end of June, there was palpable excitement online. Here’s just one example: https://twitter.com/MargoGray48/status/1398409504136601605 In a way, shopping at Costco exemplifies the retail experience throughout the pandemic. A little over a year ago, warehouses were mass chaos as customers bulked up for the unknown. Now, as its beloved samples return, we see yet another sign of normalcy. Other retailers—Sam’s Club included—are also bringing back free samples, but if online chatter is a barometer, it’s Costco shoppers who are most excited. According to data from social media analytics firm Brandwatch, there have been more than 118,000 mentions of Costco’s samples on Twitter since January 1, 2020. (In the same period, Sam’s Club was mentioned 5,000 times.) Costco’s mentions soared in March 2020 when free samples were suspended. With news of their return, reactions are climbing with nearly 5,700 mentions the week of May 24, 2021. The conversational spikes in between January 2020 and May 2021 are a result of what Brandwatch director of communications Kellan Terry called “the only constant in this entire conversation: humor.” Jokes have become “a coping mechanism of sorts,” he said. https://twitter.com/Mujtvba1/status/1315033732353531905 https://twitter.com/neda_jahanbani/status/1377281228311699457 Terry noted 53.1% of all sentiment-categorized mentions are positive, but “negative mentions aren’t talking negatively about the samples themselves, but rather the loss of them.” 'A whole new level' Generally speaking, free samples are exciting because “most of the shopping experience is pretty boring, when you think about going up and down the aisles and looking at 40,000 different boxes and jars and so on,” said Phil Lempert, a consumer behavior expert also known as the Supermarket Guru. Throw in some free samples, and suddenly shoppers not only get free food, they can try new products, ask questions and get coupons. “Costco brought sampling to a whole new level,” Lempert said about the membership warehouse, which declined to comment for this story. “Prior to Costco getting into the sampling business, a supermarket would find the oldest living human being possible, an old card table, a filthy toaster oven and have them work on Saturday and Sunday, the busiest days.” The diehard Costco shopper, yeah, they're going to dig in. But the average person and the average supermarket, I don't think we're ready for it.Phil Lempert, the Supermarket Guru, on the membership warehouse bringing back free samples Costco, on the other hand, elevated the experience so samples were available all week from multiple sampling stations that were clean and appealing. “They really upped the game as it relates to sampling,” Lempert added. “And frankly, I think everybody learned from them that if, in fact, you want to make money by sampling—and you do—you've got to be professional about it.” But in-store sampling, which Lempert estimated has been around “a good 50 or 60 years” in its current form, will naturally be different following the pandemic. Costco, for example, will have Plexiglas separating customers from food prep and one-member-at-a-time distribution going forward. The enduring appeal of free stuff It certainly benefits stores like Costco to bring back free samples. Lempert said they “increase sales dramatically.” Indeed, Club Demonstration Services, which provides in-house event marketing services to Costco, boasts a range of case studies demonstrating their effectiveness, such as a four-day campaign for Ziploc that resulted in a 156% increase in sales. A 2014 article in The Atlantic about the psychology behind Costco’s samples found they’ve boosted sales by as much as 2,000%. That's partially because consumers love free food, but also due to more subconscious forces like reciprocity in which customers feel compelled to do something in return when someone hands them a free item. ‘Supermarket shopping has changed forever' And while Twitter is certainly excited about the return of free samples, the question remains whether Americans overall are ready for a pre-pandemic experience with at least some contact with strangers. “I don't think we are ready for it,” Lempert said. “I think that supermarket shopping has changed forever … I think the diehard Costco shopper, yeah, they're going to dig in, but the average person and the average supermarket, I don't think we're ready for it yet.” That’s in part because vaccination levels are still around 40%, and it’s impossible to know which parties at a given sampling station have been vaccinated. “People are still concerned,” Lempert added. “It is a sign that things are getting back to normal. Will it be as successful as Costco sampling was pre-pandemic? Probably not.” ‘We’re going to get used to that’ Lempert highlighted that supermarkets “were built to have as many people and as many products in them as possible,” but he predicts that will change. "We still have social distancing, we still limit the capacity of people who can go into any kind of store in most parts of the country," he said. "And I think we're going to get used to that." As a result, Lempert expects to see a hybrid model in which shoppers buy certain packaged goods online and shop for fresh foods at smaller format stores. “The complaints people have when they have third-party companies picking their foods, the number one is produce. Number two is meat,” he said. “We want to buy those things ourselves.” You can also expect a more hygenic shopping experience, including Plexiglass shields and sanitizer stations. “I'm not saying that it's going to continue to be as scary of place as it is today or has been over the past 14-15 months, but it's not going to be as relaxed as it was pre-pandemic,” he added. And if retailers are bringing fewer customers in-store, brands may even start to rethink their sampling strategies. “Those campaigns need to be viewed through the lens of ‘What is the consumer traffic going to the physical store right now and how much of that has shifted online?’ to then deliver to brands an ROI that they're looking for,” said Zach Weinberg, vp of ecommerce at performance marketing network Reprise Digital. “The number of people that were shopping through the aisles previously in 2019 is much different than the number of people that are shopping there now.” What Kroger Learned a Year After Launching a Big Brand Refresh