Go Try and sample

A multi-brand sampling platform set up in the malls of Delhi and Mumbai allows brands to interact in a new and innovative way with the right target audience.

Go Try, a multi brand sampling platform from Vibgyor Brand Services, is making an attempt to break away from conventional routes brands follow to sample products to the consumer.

It has set up kiosks at two malls in Delhi NCR and Mumbai, where brands can display products and engage with the audience to provide them free samples.

Calling the method 'precision sampling', Go Try takes basic details of the consumers such as gender, age and income bracket, and then gives them the products that they are eligible to sample.

The consumer's email ID and phone number are noted and a password generated. Once the password is entered, a computer-generated text message is received on the consumer's phone telling him/her which products he/she is eligible for.

Later, if the consumers revisit the kiosk, they have to enter the password and give feedback for the previous products sampled before trying new products. Go Try kiosks will be on at the malls for a year.

The eligibility criteria for any consumer to sample a product are set by the brand manager concerned..

Dhruv Kalra, director, Go Try, says, "The brand managers set up filters such as income bracket, age and gender. This helps them to reach to specific consumers for each of their products."

Go Try is present in the Pacific Mall of Delhi NCR and Oberoi Mall of Mumbai. It will also set up a kiosk at InOrbit Mall at Vashi in Mumbai from March 1.

The company plans to add another mall in Delhi soon, along with Hyderabad, Kolkata and Bengaluru.

The multi brand sampling platform claims to have nearly 250 visitors to its kiosks on ordinary days, which increases to 325 on weekends. The footfall is even higher on public holidays.

Kalra adds that till date, Go Try has worked with nearly 35 brands, mostly from the FMCG sector and as of today, 11 brands are active on the platform in Mumbai and five in Delhi.

While the samples are free for consumers, Go Try charges the brands on two formats - cost per contact and on a monthly basis. The cost per contact ranges from Rs 10 to Rs 30, while the monthly basis deal is done somewhere between Rs 75,000 to Rs 1 lakh.

Kalra says, "Of the brands that have associated with us, 30 per cent have worked on cost to contact basis and 70 per cent work on monthly basis."

On an average, every brand keeps at least 6,000 samples per kiosk. Kalra says, "The number of samples that we ask the brand for totally depends on the filters a brand manager has put. For example, if a brand wants to communicate only to women above the age of 30 with an income of more than Rs 4 lakh, the number of samples we demand are less as compared to food products such as oats, where the brand manager wants to reach out to the maximum numbers."

Another important aspect that Go Try offers to its clients is the feedback system. Kalra claims to have a registered database of more than 45,000 people, of which more than 30 per cent have visited the kiosks and given their feedback. He boasts of having distributed more than 1.5 lakh samples so far. The software automatically updates the clients on the feedback from the consumer.

Some of the brands that have associated with Go Try are Ponds, Vaseline, Quaker Oats, Dabur Real, Nivea, Comfort, Knorr, Hippo, Surf Excel, Tang, L'Oreal, Garnier Light, Pepsodent, Veet and Vanish.

Vibgyor Brand Services began operations in 2002. It started its operations from Delhi and has offices in Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Mumbai.