Do free samples drive sales in Kiwi’s Best Kitchen?

Each year, Kiwi’s Best Kitchen is swarming with visitors who are looking to make the most of products they may have never seen before.

Once you step through the doors, you are greeted with the hall-filling noise of chatter and see rows of people lining up to try-before-they-buy.

But are free samples at Kiwi’s Best Kitchen driving sales, or are they just an opportunity for visitors to quench their palate?

“See for yourself,” Ruahine Ports director Alisha Phelps said, gesturing toward the packed countertop where people lined up to sample the goods.

The company, based in South Hawke’s Bay, have exhibited at the past four Fieldays, getting busier and busier each year.

The company had three sites at Fieldays in 2014, but have reduced to one this year, compensating by making the site twice as large.

Ruahine Ports go through around 18 bottles of port per day in free samples, with a lot of these samples leading to an eventual sale.

“It’s the only way they can know what the taste [is], and the comparison year to year as well. And we wouldn’t be able to show people our new reserves either,” Phelps said.

“I think we did 9 and a half full box sales [on Wednesday], then a lot more just single, doubles and triples.”

Over the Moon Dairy Co director Sue Arthur said samples work in a similar fashion.

The Putaruru-based company specialise in delicious cheeses that melt in your mouth.

Having exhibited at Fieldays for six years, Arthur said they have come up with a strategy involving free samples that helps to increase sales.

“We don’t have samples out for people just to take,” she said.

“If you want to sample our cheese you actually have to look us in the eye and talk to us. So we like to engage with our customers and tell them the story about the company, who we are and where the cheese is made.”

Though they go through around 18 150g pieces of cheese per day in samples, Arthur said it definitely helps to sell the product.

That message was once again reinforced by Jack Link’s Beef Snacks commercial support officer Hannah Rodgers.

Jack Link’s have been exhibiting at Fieldays for four years, with products selling very well each year.

With around 10kgs worth of beef snack products being used for free samples per day; Rodgers said free samples are a key part of gaining new customers for the Auckland-based business.

“There are a lot of people that have never tried it before, so once they try it they’ll buy it.”

The verdict?

Although some may see them as a chance to grab a quick snack or drink, free samples are key parts of increasing sales at such a busy event.