BUS 3500 Week 13

This week we learned about Sales Promotion and Personal Selling. The textbook talked about sampling as a way of promotion. It showed a picture of a Starbucks employee with a tank of coffee on his back giving out free samples of coffee. This way the potential customers could try the coffee and then purchase it if they liked it. What it did for Starbucks was it familiarized people with their product. The idea behind sampling or any sales promotion is to change the buyers behavior into a short term purchase.

I can think of several occasions where I have purchased a product that I have sampled at a grocery store. So, the sales promotion did just what it was intended to do, change buyer behavior. Instead of purchasing the product later or not at all I was influenced to buy what I sampled.

The ideas of sampling and sales promotions are great for growing a business, and if possible I would look for ways to incorporate sampling in any future business I was involved in. I see it as a very effective tool for gaining sales.