Having operated in the field marketing space for over 20 years, FMI  have worked with some of the largest retail brands and have built a reputation as a leading in store demonstration agency through delivering consistently high quality in-store demonstrations that drive in-store sales. One such example is Super Valu. It is the largest super market chain in the Republic of Ireland. It was founded in 1979, and currently has over 23 stores employing over 30,000 people.

FMI have been Working with Super Valu since 2011. The focus for Super Valu has very much been on building a reputation for fresh food, and supporting local Irish producers. To support their objective of delivering a WOW factor in-store, FMI were appointed as the primary instore demonstration agency to help plan and implement interesting and engaging in-store events.

Over the course of the last 12 months FMI have booked 1,097 in-store demonstrations for 113 brands in Super Valu stores countrywide resulting in 1,784 demo days in 2016. The busiest of these periods were March (257 demo days), May (218 demo days) and December (2015 demo days). Over this period just under half a million customers sampled goods in-store, and brands had an average 71% sales conversion rate.

In-store demonstrations remain one of the most effective means of launching new products. Almost half (40%) of the demonstrations done in Super Valu were for new products that were being launched into the Irish market.

As a leading instore demonstration agency the team at FMI have observed the following trends in the Irish in-store demo market:

• The most popular demo days are Thursday (736) followed very closely by Friday (729).
• Yoghurts topped the list in January accounting for 47%of demonstrations.
• 54% of demonstrations during February were for Milk.
• Prepacked meats were sampled consecutively for the first 6 months of the year whilst Health & Well Being products sampled consecutively for the last 6 months of the year.
• Chocolate remains a firm favourite accounting for 26% of demo days
• The frozen category is a new entrant accounting for 2% share of total activity

Perhaps the most interesting trend to note is that although in-store demos result in an increase of sales conversions (71%), it takes up to 2 months of sampling for product to become part of a consumer’s shopping mind-set.

When planning your in-store demonstrations, finding agencies who are established, reputable, and reflect and understand your market values while delivering results in-store is central to a long term brand strategy.

The FMI and Super Valu partnership continue to deliver results for the brands they work. Get in touch today to see how we could help your brands become part of the consumer shopping mindset.