Why Reliance is charging customers to try products—and why it’s smarter than it sounds

What’s the price of tasting success in India’s ultra-competitive FMCG landscape? According to Reliance Retail, it’s Rs 9.

Reliance’s Smart Bazaar has quietly built one of the more curious retail experiments in recent times: a paid sampling model that charges customers a nominal amount, Rs 9, for trying new products. On the surface, it sounds like a contradiction. Why pay to try a sample? But Reliance’s bet is that this model brings just enough skin into the game to separate curious buyers from freeloaders. “Sampling is a powerful persuasion combo,” a Colgate spokesperson told BrandWagon Online. “Brands have found that ‘paid’ sampling is way more effective than ‘free’ sampling, due to higher consumer involvement.”

It’s not just about involvement. It’s about intent. Traditional marketing—television ads, digital banners, influencer reels—builds brand awareness. But the leap from screen to shelf is often wide and shaky. Sampling narrows the gap. And Reliance wants to monetise that last-mile of persuasion, not by charging brands, but by charging consumers just enough to make them take it seriously. Damodar Mall, CEO- Grocery, Reliance Retail, believes it’s this physical trial, “the direct, sensory engagement”, that sets paid sampling apart. “While TV commercials or digital ads rely on visual appeal, paid sampling creates a tactile relationship with the product. It drives product trials, builds trust, strengthens brand recall, and nurtures long-term loyalty in an increasingly crowded marketplace,” he explained.

Sampling, especially when paid, isn’t new globally, and it works. A study by Knowledge Networks-PDI reported that in-store product sampling led to a 475% sales lift for featured items on the day of sampling. Over 20 weeks, cumulative sales were still up by 74%, demonstrating long-term impact. Furthermore, another report found that 73% of consumers are more likely to purchase a product after trying a sample, as compared to a 25% conversion rate from TV ads. Even more telling: 24% of shoppers who sample a product end up replacing their planned purchase with the sampled brand.

And it’s not just any sample thrown into your shopping bag. The Rs 9 product comes as a reward after you spend Rs 1,499 or more, a perk that feels earned rather than given. “You choose your sample from a set of brands. You can check the product pack, touch and smell it before deciding. It’s not a random item,” the Colgate spokesperson added.

For FMCG brands, the proposition is compelling: high-intent shoppers, traceable trial-to-purchase journeys, and cleaner attribution. “Paid sampling helps generate value/offtake for the brand and by design provides a >1 ROI even with minimal repeats, making it more sustainable,” a spokesperson from a leading FMCG brand pointed out. He contrasts it with quick commerce sampling through platforms like Blinkit or Zepto, where ROI ranges from 0.7 to 1.2. “For paid sampling, demonstrated ROI is between 1.2 and 1.8,” he said.

Digital models have also seen success. A 2023 partnership between SoPost and Hellmann’s for its vegan mayo in the UK led to 36% of recipients purchasing the full-sized product within two weeks of sampling. Still, not everything about paid sampling is frictionless. The operational lift is heavy, requiring trained store promoters, precise stock forecasting, and logistics to match. “Fixed costs can be higher. Promoter quality standardisation is a challenge too,” the spokesperson from a leading FMCG brand said.

Reliance, however, sees these hurdles as opportunities to innovate at scale. The retailer leverages its loyalty program and transaction data to personalise sampling, a move that echoes strategies used by global retail giants but tailored for Indian quirks. “Smart Bazaar uses membership consumer scan data and past behaviour to optimise sampling,” the Colgate spokesperson added. This goes beyond offering a trial. It’s about using data to predict the next purchase, or even the next best product to pitch. “A premium shampoo trialist can be targeted for conditioner purchase,” the P&G spokesperson noted.

AI, unsurprisingly, is the next frontier. Everyone interviewed agrees that the future lies in real-time, personalised sampling based on past purchases and behavioural patterns. “Imagine a shopper receiving a sample of a new skincare product at checkout based on their past purchases in skincare. This not only enhances personalisation but also maximises conversion potential by offering relevant experiences at the right moment,” Mall said.

The P&G spokesperson takes it a step further: “AI models can convince the consumer of the outcome—‘this is how your hair will look if you use this conditioner regularly’—versus just showing them a generic benefit.” But while the sampling model is rooted in personalisation and tech-driven precision, there’s also an old-school insight powering it: people don’t value what’s free. Free samples often end up handed off to others in the household. “When the consumer pays Rs 9 for, say, a Rs 50 product, it ensures they use it,” the Colgate spokesperson noted.