Giving it away

Nivea sampling crew, Broadway City Hall SkyTrain Station, Vancouver, BC

Nivea sampling crew, Broadway City Hall SkyTrain Station, Vancouver, BC (Detail)

For firms in the bath and beauty area, sampling is a cost effective way of getting consumers to try your product. For the price of some product samples, pennies each, and a couple of staff a firm can put samples into the hands of hundreds if not thousands of people.

When I saw these two women around noon and they informed me that they were paid until 3:00 PM or when they ran out of samples, whichever came first.

Before consumers will buy a product they must be lead through a multistage process. The steps are; Awareness, Attitude, Trial, Purchase, and Repeat Purchase. This sampling exercise accomplishes the first three stages in one fell swoop.

My daughter and I each  took a couple of samples of the In-Shower Body Milk. I quite like the product, while my daughter is not crazy about it. But at these prices who can complain?