Taste it, you'll like it

SMU Associate Professor of Marketing Sandeep R Chandakula co-authored a research paper “An Assessment of When, Where and Under What Occasions In-Store Sampling is Most Effective” with Jeffrey P Dotson of Brigham Young University and Qing Liu of University of Wisconsin-Madison. The research revealed that sampling had an immediate, if short-term, effect and a sustained impact on sales. However, they found that the impact varied according to the size of the store conducting the event and that repeated sampling for a single product produced increased returns. At the same time, sampling tended to expand a product category rather than purely substitute for another product. The results of the study will benefit manufacturers and category managers seeking to find ways to increase total category profitability.