Taste Success: The Power of In-store Demos for Food & Beverage Brands

In-store product demos and sampling are integral parts of retail marketing strategies for food and beverage brands, serving as critical last-mile marketing solutions. They help brands connect with shoppers, generate trials, answer queries, and get instant feedback through consumer reviews and ratings, significantly influencing purchase decisions. Anecdotally, in-store demos can result in up to a 400% increase in sales, with a residual sales lift in the following weeks.

Product sampling facilitates consumer engagement with brands. According to a study conducted for Shopify, 32% of consumers said they are likely to engage with brands in retail stores¹, and 81% of Gen Z consumers prefer discovering new products in person². Retail stores also see an increase in foot traffic because of in-store demos.

Most brands recognize the importance of in-store product demos. They hold demos for visibility, taste trials, and building goodwill with stores. However, many lack a built-in mechanism for consumer feedback, KPI measurement, and benchmarking. This inhibits market insights and ongoing learning. In the absence of monitoring and measurement, brands hope to increase offtake. But hope is not a strategy.

In-store demos are a powerful tool and a win-win for all stakeholders when done right, with real-time monitoring, consumer reviews, measurement, and benchmarking, aiming to make every event more effective and productive than the last.

There are four pillars of effective in-store demos and product sampling:

• Product-Market Fit
• Sampling Systems
• Monitoring & Measurement
• Branding

Product-Market Fit is the prerequisite for successful demos and product off-take. The best branding, monitoring, measurement, and sampling systems will not help without a product-market fit. Though product-market fit is critical, the product itself is generally not an issue, as these are launched after months of market research, concept testing, product and packaging development, testing, and brand positioning. It’s the retail marketing strategy, which is a part of the fit, that needs to be revisited to align with location demographics, store rush hours, shoppers’ profiles, and brand predisposition.

Sampling System is foundational for running seamless and successful demos and delivering memorable consumer experiences. It includes ensuring stocks, training brand ambassadors, maintaining a clean sampling counter, following health department guidelines, seamless sample delivery, shopper engagement, product promotion, and selling.

Monitoring & Measurement is a huge plus for any brand activation. As the saying goes, if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. Monitoring and measurement help brands to pivot and get more from product sampling and meet sampling targets with consumer feedback, real-time monitoring, emails, KPI measurement, and benchmarking.

Branding builds in-store visibility and attracts shoppers to the sampling station. A clear brand message conveys the product value proposition to shoppers, helps brand ambassadors communicate product features and benefits, and delivers a pleasant experience.

Savvy brands and activation teams cover their bases with the above-mentioned elements to deliver powerful sampling campaigns and raise their effectiveness on the go.

1 & 2 Global Ecommerce Statistics: Trends to Guide Your Store in 2025 – Shopify