I do not understand why people aren’t satisfied with the uppermost (open) case of whatever when there’s a large stack (and, let’s face it–everything is stacked at Costco). I watch them struggle to lift 4 or 5 cases so they can pick one box of raisins from the 5th level down. I get if there was one left on top that was crushed or some other moron opened…but, really?
The other one is the family of 5 that walk next to each other (think front line of an NFL team) while pushing the cart as slowly as possible down the ‘wrong’ side of the aisle.
The idea of the samples is fine. But they didn’t build their stores for them. It creates a huge tangle of traffic. I wish they would rearrange some shelves or something to solve this.
Are the samples really increasing sales that much? Or is it more about flinging free treats at people because they love that? Fending off low blood sugar during a long shopping experience?
I’d love to know the internal logic on samples.
Don’t know about you, but I’ve impulse purchased quite a few products at Costco (and some have become regular staples on the shopping list) because of a random sample.
That said, I do completely agree with you that a better layout would be ideal. Too many people just mingling around waiting for the next round of whatever that block everyone else.
I’m too intentional about my diet and money for that kind of thing to be a significant influence. If you wander Costco looking for things to buy you can walk out with quite a bill. I also enjoy cooking, and the samples tend to be premade frozen dinner items. So all this accounts for my opinion on it, I guess.