The Atlantic:
Free samples help consumers learn more about products, and they make retail environments more appealing. But samples are operating on a more subconscious level as well.
“Reciprocity is a very, very strong instinct,” says Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist at Duke University. “If somebody does something for you”—such as giving you a quarter of a ravioli on a piece of wax paper—“you really feel a rather surprisingly strong obligation to do something back for them.”
Am I weird because I’ve never taken a free food sample in a grocery store? I just find the whole idea strange. For those of you outside the USA or Canada, is this “free samples in grocery stores” a thing in other countries, too?
What worries me is what if this practice of deceptively invoking a feeling of reciprocity (and our need to suppress that instinct for financial reasons) causes us to abandon the instinct altogether even when the there is no agenda behind the initial favor?
I will try stuff that looks interesting at trader joes. But if I don’t like it I’m not buying it.
Your not weird. It’s just that you don’t want the inconvenience of having to suppress the urge to reciprocate (because you already know you won’t buy the product). You know you would feel uncomfortable (even though you should’t) so you don’t take a sample.
“you don’t want the inconvenience of having to suppress the urge to reciprocate (because you already know you won’t buy the product).”
No – I don’t even take samples of products I do want or will buy.
Yes, it is common practice here in Brazil.
Still applies… if you already intended to buy the product, it wouldn’t be reciprocity. You would still have to suppress the urge to do “something”.
I don’t feel the need to buy anything when I try a sample. If I like it, I buy it, but if I’m even partly on the fence I skip which is 90% of the time.
It happens in the UK but is not that common. The places that you see it most tend to be of US origin like Costco. I have never tried a food sample there, but have had wine 🙂
Yeah, it’s a pretty common practice here in Australia too. It’s very irritating when you’re running the isles at the supermarket trying to cram the shopping in as quickly as possible, being interrupted by these fake “friends” trying to get you to try this junk. Another reason why I’ve done 97% of my supermarket shopping over the internet for the last 10 years.
Unfortunately the practice of free samples has spread beyond supermarkets and places like my local bakery are now doing it, I loathe it and never try the samples.
The instinct of reciprocity is easily overshadowed by the desire for free stuff. I’ve never bought anything after tasting it unless it was truly good.
Yes, you are weird (in the sense of “outside of the statistical norm”).
Maybe for you; I don’t think my psychology would view “buying it” as anything less than adequate reciprocity.
Hell, I commonly try things I have no intention of buying and don’t feel like I Ought To – the urge just isn’t that strong, that I’d have to suppress it – in the presence of the relevant norms.
Native midwesterner here, transplanted to Switzerland 15 years ago … we have two main supermarket chains here (CooP and Migros) … I have unattended samples either in the produce or the bakery sections, and at CooP, there are also attended give-aways of chocolates, yogurt, cheeses, yogurt, etc. If it looks interesting, I always try, but remind myself I’m under no obligation to buy (as I have also studied the psychology of sales and marketing), but I always feel a little guilty when I do not buy something.
One of our big, and super well respected, insurance companies here, Mobiliar, had a “hidden camera” advertising campaign recently wherein a man on the street approached passers-by and offered them snap-judgement style “quick, take 100 Swiss Francs, or not” … and then the viewer was given the opportunity to guess if the person would say yes or no … it was very entertaining to watch and predict, and to guess … (most said no, and gave the appearance they thought the guy was a kind of gentleman eccentric …) Even if you don’t understand Swiss German, it it worth watching a few just to watch folks expressions … (sometimes folks asked “why?”, and his response “simply because”)…
In my opinion, besides trying to build a sense of reciprocal obligation within the customer target, this is an very good way to make customers aware of your product, and is good for potentially acquiring customers that are not too adventurous in trying new things if they cost something…
Pretty common here in Italy.
Here in Taiwan the lines at Costco for samples are hilariously long, with long wait times. I’ve seen some use the opportunity to feed their kids lunch.
I ain’t trying free samples in Bangalore India on the street!
Ditto. My “reciprocity instinct” extends only so far as treating the sample lady like a human being. Maybe I’m just broken, but I feel no allegiance to a giant faceless foodstuffs corporation.
It’s pretty common all over the world. I don’t think it’s strange especially if you have a genuine interest in how the food tastes before committing to buy.
I know what purpose those samples serve at my local Trader Joe’s, and apart from the tiny cups of coffee, I only try the ones that seem like something I might want to follow up upon. Occasionally, I take one just because I could use a hit of protein for my walk back home. For what it’s worth, I see other customers who swarm the samples as though their posh suburban lives provide no sustenance at all.
It’s advertising. If I reciprocate, I do so by continuing to shop at a store whose products provide value for me, samples notwithstanding.
Happens in Japan, though less often than in stores like Walmart/Costco.
That practice has infected most of the world. I personally just say a kind “no” and move on.
I’ve never taken one. Part of it is to avoid the awkward interaction where I’m being pushed to buy something, and I decline it.
But it’s the very idea of those ideas sitting all day in the open air, collecting dust, being prepared by a low paid employee, maybe with dirty hands. I don’t want to eat that, even if they would pay me.
“The very idea of those samples” I mean, duh.
The staff giving out free samples is usually employed by the marketer, not the store. Generally, you will offend no one by talking a sample. They don’t expect you to buy that day. It’s top-of-mind marketing.
Free samples were common practice in Hawaii among independent food vendors for as long as I can remember. I recall there were occasional grocery store demos as well, but not to the everyday extent of Costco. The change, it seems, is that it’s become a regular feature rather than a bonus.
I like Costco’s free samples. I buy groceries for the family and am always on the lookout for something a little different to put on the table. I don’t feel that I have to buy after trying a sample. I appreciate the chance to taste something prior purchase. To me it is like trying perfume before buying.
the samples at costco are not free. You have to be a member to get your free sample and that membership starts at a whopping $50 plus