Interactions, a provider of retail services and product demonstrations for retailers and brands, has released its fifth Retail Perceptions trend report, “Retail Insights: The Consumer Demand for Non-Food Demonstrations.” The report includes insight on how product demos have become essential in driving new product discovery and increased brand loyalty.
According to the report, 96 percent of shoppers prefer to spend their money at retailers offering in-store product demos over stores that don’t have demos. While most shoppers research a product online before purchasing it, 82 percent of shoppers say they would rather learn about the product from in-store demos. After experiencing a product demo, 81 percent of shoppers have purchased an item on impulse.
In addition, 95 percent of shoppers would like to see more demos year-round, and nearly the same number would like to see more during the holidays. Also during the holiday shopping season, 90 percent of shoppers have purchased an item on impulse after experiencing a demo. For gift purchases during the holidays, 87 percent of shoppers say product demos help when purchasing gifts in unfamiliar categories. This would include products that parents purchase for their kids, such as the latest game consoles.
From improving the overall retail experience to encouraging impulse purchases, shoppers have indicated that demos are the tipping point between leaving an item on a shelf to purchasing a product and becoming loyal to that new brand. Although product demos have significant day-of-sales lift, 37 percent of shoppers will buy the product at a later time and of those shoppers 86 percent will return to buy it at the same store where they originally saw the demo.
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