KOHINOOR SUPERMARKET TOUR

THE SOLUTION

Rather than hire or buy a promotional sampling van, a used home grocery delivery van was bought and converted at low cost.
LINK oversaw the specialist conversion into a promotional food truck, with portable catering equipment to cook curry & rice.
The van was wrapped with Kohinoor graphics, roof sign and visual messaging to attract customers and familiarise them with the unique brand identity.

Kohinoor approved a ‘Phase One’ test run trial campaign on peak shopping days over six weeks in Sep/Oct 2022.
The van was located in front of largest sized Asda Supercentres and a small test of two Tesco Extra stores in suburban areas to reach the core audience of mainstream ‘Middle England’ shoppers.
Following the success of Phase One, Phase Two of the tour was approved which covered a wider range of flagship sized Sainsburys and Morrisons (in addition to more Tesco & Asdas).

The LINK team cooked up hot tasters of Kohinoor curry cooked with chicken (eg: in Butter Chicken Sauce) and a vegan friendly mushroom curry option (eg: Mushroom Bhuna). Each sample was served on a bed of freshly cooked Kohinoor rice, in a small eco taster pot with mini spoon.
Halal chicken and a vegan option were included to widen the audience reach, be inclusive to everyone to increase acceptance rates.
In addition to the flavours being sampled, the wider range sold in each store was placed on display to show shoppers what other SKUs were available to purchase from within the Kohinoor range.

As well as engaging shoppers, the team also presented the Kohinoor brand to store staff by offering them free meals each day.
With the team only on site for one day per store, the legacy of their activity could be extended by gaining the approval of the staff who interact with shoppers in store on a long term daily basis.
This helped to further expand the direct reach and sales impact of the campaign, as the store staff are shoppers too.

An on the day incentive of Buy Two (in store) Get One Free (at the van) was offered to reward shoppers who made purchases.
Kohinoor tote bags were given as additional gifts to customers making multiple purchases, aiding long term brand recall.
A Free Standing Display Unit (FSDU) was located in the foyer area to shorten the distance from sample to stock location.

Over 70% of shoppers reached do not visit the World Foods aisle during their normal weekly shop. Instead, they would purchase from the mainstream cooking sauces aisle, so would have missed the Kohinoor range without the sampling.
The activation was popular with everyone; but the majority of purchases came from mainstream ‘Middle England’ shoppers, comprised of families aged 35 – 60.
Positive comments about the authentic Indian restaurant quality taste and wide range of sauce flavours were repeatedly made throughout the tour.

Average Rate of Sales of 7 units increased to an average of 221 units sold at each event day (equating to 3,399%).
Peak sales uplifts as high as 6,266% were achieved (at Tesco: previously 5 units to sales of 296 units).
Immediate on the day sales peaked at 319 units at ASDA.

Average long term sustained Rate of Sale increased by 152% (from 7 units to 17 units, measured weeks after the event day).
Peak sustained sales growth of 339% was achieved in ASDA, from 6 to 27 measured weeks after.