In a year dominated by election coverage and inflation, Advantage Solutions managed to break through with some news of its own. Looking back on our most-read stories, MRKT blog readers were intrigued by our people, our company’s transformation and in hot retail topics like self-checkout and product sampling.
As we head into 2025, here are the five most-read stories of the past year, based on our MRKT traffic metrics:
5. Self-checkout: The evolution continues
Judging by media headlines last year questioning whether “self-checkout is dead,” you might think the technology is on the verge of being eliminated.
The truth is far more complicated, according to our report from March, based on data from the 2024 Advantage Shopper Outlook survey. Not only is it not dying, self-checkout is thriving, particularly among consumers who’ve come to appreciate the convenience, the relative privacy and the suitability for their lifestyle that it offers.
Concerns raised by some retailers are valid. Theft and loss can be more acute in unstaffed lanes, and unintentional errors are more common when fewer folks are around to ask for help, which forces harried shoppers to troubleshoot on their own.
But the pros may outweigh the cons. For retailers, self-checkout provides a critical labor solution, as the availability of quality hourly workers continues to be tight. Self-service lanes allow retailers to reduce front-end hourly labor needs, allowing them to redeploy those workers into aisles or stock rooms.
Andy Keenan, executive vice president at Advantage, believes the advantages offered by self-checkout will eventually overcome any hesitation on the part of retailers.
“The notion that we’re going to pivot away from technology that helps offset labor needs and will ultimately continue to improve customer experience because of some challenges is far-fetched,” he said. “We need to continue to embrace the technology and realize that it may always be imperfect, but it will always be evolving. The noise that, ‘Oh, self-checkout might not be working,’ that’s just a moment in time.”
4. How to sample products for pets
Even in a year as polarizing and divisive as 2024, one thing Americans can all agree on is that we love our pets. Pet ownership and spending reached record levels this year, and Advantage experiential services is there to connect pet parents with brands and retailers, supporting a growing number of pet product manufacturers by finding creative and innovative ways to get their products into the hands of shoppers. In April, we took a look at Advantage’s venue-based marketing and e-commerce sampling campaigns created specifically for pet parents.
Since consumers are not physically trying the product themselves, Advantage helps brands with the additional layer of educating consumers properly about the sample to the point where they feel comfortable giving it to their pet — and buying it again.
3. Sampling was the story at Expo West
After the challenge of the pandemic, product sampling was back in a big way in 2024 — and that was evident at the Natural Products Expo West conference in Anaheim in March, where the biggest draw was all the samples. Manufacturers in every corner of the convention hall floor were offering everything from chips made from chicken skin to caffeinated birthday cake-flavored energy bars to 100 kinds of yogurt. Interest in sampling also extended to the speaker sessions, where a standing-room-only crowd gathered to hear insights from the Advantage experiential services team on the power of sampling.
“The importance of sampling to brand building, consumer trial, awareness, purchase and conversion can’t be overstated,” said Andrea Young, chief operating officer for experiential services at Advantage Solutions.
The data bear that out. A retailer study conducted on behalf of Advantage shows that 98% of shoppers in a warehouse store try a sample on a typical shopping trip. What’s more, 91% of them credit sampling and demo with influencing their buying decision.
“Our sampling programs help consumers discover products, understand their value propositions, and in the end, can impact the way they live their lives,” said Amy Lang, president, global operations for Club Demonstration Services, an Advantage Solutions company. “That may sound big or grandiose, but we see it every day.”
2. Shaping a fresh chapter at Advantage
In September, Advantage Solutions made news when it unveiled a reimagined brand designed to reflect its transition into a unified retail solutions company positioned at the center of retailers, brands and shoppers.
While keeping its trusted name, Advantage launched its new visual identity and messaging framework to reflect its industry leadership, and to convey the full suite of omnicommerce solutions it provides to brands and retailers to shape the way people shop, wherever they shop.
Advantage’s refreshed brand is a visual manifestation of the business simplification and unification plan implemented by CEO Dave Peacock and his executive team, who have transformed the organization from a holding company of disparate businesses and agencies into a single unified enterprise providing a full suite of interconnected solutions.
- Everyday hero Delante Scott
When Advantage retail merchandiser Delante Scott encountered a serious traffic accident on I-495 in Maryland on his way to work, he ran toward the flaming wreckage and helped pull a mother and child free. Delante’s heroic act came as no surprise to his coworkers, who say he’s no stranger to “serving with heart”—one of Advantage Solutions’ core values that our teammates carry with them outside of their jobs.
In what became our most-read story of the year, Delante Scott relives that harrowing day in April and shares how serving others has been a theme in his life, with his family and in his work.
