Costco offers members a very specific experience.
Yes, it's a no-frills shopping environment, but that doesn't really explain why people like to shop at the warehouse club. Though there's nothing fancy about ir, Costco (COST) offers members a bit of entertainment along with the value the chain promises.
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The warehouse club has made its merchandise mix a form of entertainment. You never know what bargains you might find, and that bit of mystery has turned shopping into a treasure hunt. It makes members want to visit even when they don't have something specific to shop for.
Costco also has made sampling a core part of its business model. At each warehouse the chain has stationed workers who hand out samples of food, drinks and snacks.
That effort went away during the pandemic, and Costco members excitedly welcomed it back once it was safe for it to return.
Now, the chain has been testing a new way to offer samples to its members.
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Costco Tries Automated Sampling
Under its classic system, Costco has stationed workers to hand out samples. Those people don't actually work for the warehouses; they're employees of a third-party vendor called Club Demonstration Services
At least some of the cost of those workers is likely paid for by the companies that make the products being sampled. But human workers still are an expense for Costco, so it makes sense for the chain and its partners to explore ways to automate the sample process,
That's being tested near Costco's Bellevue, Wash., headquarters. TikTok user @CostcoDeals posted a video of an automated sample kiosk. In the clip, the sample machine was "handing out" Mott's fruit snacks. And it communicated to customers that they should "take one," although nothing prevented people from taking more than one.
"New sample kiosks spotted in Issaquah Costco! Looks like they’ve turned to this due to staff shortages from what we are hearing! Is this the future of samples at Costco? Love it? Hate it? Let us know in the comments below! And most definitely people are not just grabbing one," CostcoDeals shared.
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Are People Part of the Costco Sample Experience?
It's easy to see why Costco and its partners would want to take the human labor and its associated cost out of the sampling process. People are expensive, and even if the warehouse club isn't paying the full cost of these third-party-vendor workers, the chain has good reason to avoid the expense by automating the process.
Samples drive customers to the warehouse club. It's not why people shop at the chain, but it's part of what makes it fun to shop there, which might influence members to opt to visit over going to their local grocery chains.
Automating samples takes human interaction out of the process, which has its pluses and minuses. A person can answer questions. That's not that relevant with Mott's fruit snacks, but some items that the chain samples benefit from having a human handing them out and interacting with customers.
In addition, while there's nothing stopping Costco members from taking multiple samples under the human-based system, having people handing them out dissuades them from oversampling. In an automated setting, people can take however much they want.
