The Success of Sampling Staff – A Case Study

How our sampling staff were the cornerstone of a project in Boots stores across the UK

Boots is a leading beauty and pharmaceutical retailer in the UK. With 2, 5000 stores across the UK and Ireland, Boots is considered a staple of the high street.

Like other major brands, Boots develop and launch many new own-brand products. The beauty product industry is a competitive marketplace, something that as a retailer, they understand. Customers also tend to be loyal to beauty products that they know suit their skin.

And this is why Boots decided to hire professional sampling staff in 30 of their stores to introduce customers to a new skincare product and be positive brand ambassadors.

The product – anti-bacterial skincare product

The brief – to introduce customers in some of their stores to the new product. Our promotional girls were to discuss, demonstrate and sell the skin cream and other related product.

The client wanted female demonstrators as the product is targeted towards female customers. They also wanted promotional staff who fitted with the image of the product – that is, women confident with their own skin care routines and with an in-depth knowledge of how to look after skin.

Where – Boots designated 30 stores across the UK, identifying a weekend during which demonstrators would introduce the product.

We supplied all promotional and demonstration staff to complete the assignment in the designated Boots stores. Fully briefed before the event, our promotional staff were more than familiar with the product before the weekend sales and demonstration event.

Able to answer questions confidently, our team of demonstrators were tasked to sample the product with customers and drive sales. With an attractive discount, customers were further enticed to make a purchase.

Organising and facilitating the event

For a single demonstration event like this, there is a large amount of behind-the-scenes preparation and planning.

Assigned to an event manager, the project runs smoothly from start to finish;

•Promotional team – first, we choose the member of the promotional and demonstration team, scanning our database for experienced demonstrators close or living in the locations close to the stores.
•Briefing and product testing – once the full brief and products were received from Boots, they were sent on to our team of demonstrators so that they could be familiar with every aspect of the assignment and skincare range.
•Logistics – uniforms were dispatched to demonstrators as were the stands to each of the designated stores before the weekend event.
•On the day – demonstrators arrived at their designated store, introduce themselves to the store manager and staff member, set up their stand and demonstrated the product in the given time frame
•Administration – demonstrators were to record sales and customer feedback, all of which was fed back to the client.

The sampling outcome

As a result of the hard work of the demonstrators and promotional staff on the day, and the work carried out by our event manager, the promotional and sampling event was considered a success, smashing the targets and expectations of the client!

With a comprehensive report detailing the success of the day, we are continuing to work with Boots.

To find out how we can make your next promotional, demonstration, street marketing teams or sampling event even more successful, contact us on 0844 800 0071 or email us.