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In our June column, we discussed the need for supermarkets and gourmet food retailers to promote and merchandise meals in one place rather than individual ingredients in various places throughout the store. If action is not taken soon, the increasing number of meals-to-go retailers I see so often when traveling our country could take the place of traditional supermarkets in serving time-starved customers' needs to buy nutritious meals conveniently to be prepared and consumed inside the home.

I hope each of you takes advantage of this July tip leading to a firework show that surpasses any of your past promotions! One way to drive traffic to your store is to make it a fun and exciting place at which to spend time. In other words, make it a shopping experience via sampling multiple items in many locations throughout your store. While our supermarket shopper traffic research data are correlational, they indicate that greater spending at the register is associated with being offered a sample from a store associate. Offering samples early and often is one way to make your store a shopping experience rather than a buying chore. In our recent supermarket shopper traffic studies, when customers were offered a sample, they were more apt to purchase that particular item, and their general spending in the store was 34 percent greater than those not offered a sample.

The best items to sample are those with which customers have less familiarity and experience. Although we suggest sampling branded items as well, customers are more apt to have tried these items. So, various other consumer promotions are likely to engender purchase of these branded items they know so well.

It is in cases in which customers have less experience with a product (e.g., your store's private-label offerings or well-known brands' line extensions) that sampling can play a significant role in helping customers in the unchartered waters in which they find themselves when contemplating whether to forgo a branded favorite for your private-label product. Customers know they will receive a rousing ovation from their family when they bring home well-known branded chips, cookies, and canned fruits and vegetables. Customers are taking a risk, however, when purchasing these items without a well-known branded stamp that adds credibility to the purchase.

Sampling thus provides an opportunity for consumers to have a risk-free experience with your private-label product while being exposed to its taste, texture and consistency. By opening the lid and allowing them to taste the product, you have assuaged their fears about returning home with a product that does not pass the taste test — the trump card in food marketing.

In addition, sampling adds the needed experience for customers to be able to justify purchasing a product with which they have little or no consumption experience. The more excitement you can inject into sampling promotions (e.g., flowers, helium balloons, and a strobe light at the display with the employees dressed in a chef's coat or hat), the more those items could land in grocery bags and in cupboards. The potential effects of sampling on sales are quite exciting.
So, here is a potentially effective sampling promotion I have proposed to some of the food retailers with whom I have worked. Sample an appetizer or meal (e.g., pesto) comprised of all private-label ingredients. Make a sign (our February tip elaborated on the dramatic effects of signage on sales) that reads, for example, "Palate-pleasing pesto that tastes pricey but is pasta-and-purse satisfying." Then, also give away tastes of the pesto (sold in plastic bins) spread atop toasted crackers that you bake using your store-made bread. This augments the level of excitement and passion in your store for products made of all private-label ingredients which can be made into an appetizer (on crackers from your bakery) or a delicious pasta dish. Of course, some nice white wine merchandised beside the pastas and crackers would be a divine idea!

Our shopper traffic research will unveil some quick and manageable tactics that could have a profound impact on your customer's satisfaction, loyalty, and on your top line. For more information on how to purchase our traffic research or on how I can cater our traffic research to meet your specific needs, please
e-mail me at Kenneth.Herbst@mason.wm.edu. Alternatively, feel free to visit my Web page at www.mason.wm.edu/Kenneth.Herbst. I can also be reached via phone at 757-345-1205. I look forward to speaking with you about the research in order to prepare a traffic study designed for your specific needs.
This summer, Dr. Kenneth C. Herbst will return to his alma mater to serve as an Assistant Professor of Marketing in the Babcock Graduate School of Management at Wake Forest University. For the last two years, Dr. Herbst has been an Assistant Professor of Marketing in the Mason School of Business at The College of William and Mary. Dr. Herbst earned a Masters and Ph.D. from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In addition, he earned a B.A. from Wake Forest University.

Dr. Herbst has been interviewed about his food research and industry expertise by, among others, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, the Ottawa Citizen, the Montreal Gazette, the San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, and Woman's Day.
Harold Lloyd was the President and CEO of a 14-unit retail organization for 10 years. His practical, exciting ideas and dynamic presentation style have combined to earn him a highly regarded reputation reflected in his top ratings at numerous appearances at such prestigious events as the Food Marketing Institute convention and the IDDBA convention.

For almost two decades, Harold has worked very closely with small and large businesses to provide a "powerful push in the right direction!" His mission is to provide qualified, executive-level assistance to companies on a "temporary basis," eliminating the need to add permanent top management overhead. To further assist his clients, Harold authored the book It's About Time, focusing on time management.