Physical retail isn't dying. It's being reinvented. And the brands that understand how to create genuine in-store experiences will be the ones that win.
There's a persistent myth in marketing that physical retail is in decline. The data tells a different story. Across grocery and FMCG, around 85 percent of sales still happen in a physical store. Shoppers aren't abandoning the aisle; they're simply expecting more from it.
The question for brands is no longer whether the store matters. It's how to make the store work harder. And that's where in-store experience, particularly product demonstration and sampling, deserves far more attention than it currently receives.
A touchpoint that deserves a second look
Product sampling has always been effective. What's changed is our ability to understand just how effective it is. A recent WARC analysis of experiential retail media found that the average product sampling campaign delivered an incremental return on ad spend (iROAS) of around NZD 8.50 after 28 days. Over a 26-week attribution window, that figure nearly tripled to approximately NZD 24.20, as new buyers became repeat buyers.
Those numbers should make any media planner pause. Few channels can match that kind of compounding return. And the effect extends well beyond the people who actually sample the product. In one cookie brand case study, just 4.5 percent of store shoppers tried the sample, yet the other 95 percent who were merely exposed to the surrounding media and activity still drove 48 percent of incremental sales during the campaign.
Infographic showing experiential retail media funding and performance metrics
The value proposition is becoming clearer. Recent US market research shows that when brands invest in experiential in-store media, they see an average 27 percent sales lift and a 4.3 times return on investment.
The challenge? Only 32 percent of experiential programmes are currently brand-funded, with retailers covering the majority. That funding gap reveals both an opportunity and a disconnect: brands are underinvesting in one of their highest-performing channels.
In-store demonstration, in other words, isn't just a conversion tactic. It's a branding channel that happens to sit at the point of purchase. Kantar estimates that up to 75 percent of branding impact comes from product experience itself.
Read more in the latest issue here
