Walmart Seems to Be Coming for Costco With Its Newest Offering
Free samples are on the way!
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If you shop at Walmart, you might notice a big change at your store soon—but it’s one that will actually benefit you. Walmart is committing to adding in-store demos with free samples to more stores this year.
If you typically shop at a club store, like Sam’s Club or Costco, you know how great it is to walk around the store and be offered free food—who doesn’t love a free snack while they shop? You may love tasting free samples throughout the store, which is a win in itself, but it actually benefits the company and the brands you’re sampling, too. Not only does it introduce you to new products you might not have tried before, but you’re also more likely to buy the product after you taste-test it rather than just seeing it on the shelf—meaning the store and brand are profiting in the long run.
Walmart has been doing free samples for years at Sam’s Club stores—if you didn’t know, Walmart owns Sam’s—so it’s finally taking a page out of the club store book and bringing the successful program to its other stores. And the best part is, unlike at a club store, you won’t need a membership to partake in the samples.
Walmart to Add Free Sample Stations at 1,000 Stores This Year
Walmart began testing its in-store demos at 25 locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area back in April and since then it has expanded the program to 120 stores. Now, Walmart plans to increase free samples and demos to 1,000 stores nationwide by the end of the year, according to Walmart Connect.
The demos will occur every weekend from Friday to Sunday and allow suppliers to bring in their new or existing products for Walmart customers to test free of charge.
Obviously, there’s a huge draw for customers to come in to grab their free samples, but it’s not like Walmart is adding this new perk out of the kindness of their own heart. The company plans to sell the demo stations to advertisers as a way to increase its ad revenue.
Money talk aside, we customers really are the ones benefiting here. Is it enough to get you to cancel your Costco membership? Probably not, but true free samples are hard to come by nowadays, so a win is a win.
