Retail
Freeosk transforms in-store product sampling into a data-driven «experiential retail media» platform, seamlessly merging physical and digital to drive sales and foster loyalty.
Photo: Freeosk
May 30, 2025 by Sandra Carpenter — Editor, Networld Media Group
In an era where digital and physical retail often operate in separate spheres, Freeosk is bridging the gap, transforming the in-store experience into a dynamic, data-driven retail media platform.
With a vast network of interactive kiosks across major retailers including Sam’s Club and Wakefern banners (ShopRite and Fresh Grocer), Freeosk is redefining how brands connect with consumers and measure the impact of their in-store efforts.
The evolution of retail media from digital to experiential
«We’re a platform that operates a network of experiential retail media,» Dilini Fernando, CMO of Freeosk, told Kiosk Marketplace in an interview on the expo floor of Sweets and Snacks Expo 2025. «What that means is really thinking about the next day of retail media, bringing physical and digital together in-store where the most transactions happen and most traffic happens.»
Fernando likened the consistent in-store foot traffic to «Super Bowl Sunday every week,» highlighting the potential for brands to engage with millions of consumers.
The approximately $50 billion U.S. retail media ad market is expanding beyond e-commerce into new formats and touch points, built on a foundation of first-party retailer data and closed-loop measurement. According to «Experiential Retail Media: The Next Frontier,» published by Freeosk, this evolution can be traced through three key eras:
- Foundational digital era: Primarily driven by on-site search ads on e-commerce platforms like Amazon, focusing on online sales.
- Data-driven physical expansion:Retailers began activating first-party data in upper-funnel formats like display, video, social, CTV and in-store media, measuring impact on both online and offline sales.
- Experiential retail media: The current era, realizing retail media’s full potential by combining physical and digital touch points to create multisensory, multimedia and multichannel experiences.
Multisensory engagement: Beyond traditional sampling
At the heart of Freeosk’s offering is its automated sampling machine, a core competency that delivers product samples directly to consumers. However, Freeosk goes far beyond traditional sampling.
«What’s also unique is that we have media,» Fernando said. «We’re both the sampling brand, as well as other brands can purchase, including non-endemic things that traditionally can’t be sampled.» Beyond media, Freeosk integrates merchandising, creating a comprehensive «full funnel» experience for brands.
Experiential retail media reimagines product sampling as a multisensory media impression. Unlike traditional sampling, which often lacks measurable impact, Freeosk integrates in-store digital displays to create a memorable impression that engages touch, taste, smell, sight and sound.
This integration activates the senses where consumers are most receptive to product trial and discovery. The physical store is the number one channel for new product discovery among U.S. consumers, significantly outpacing social media. Consumers are drawn to in-store digital displays for discovering new products and savings, finding colorful and engaging content, and gaining information to inform buying decisions.
Condensing the marketing funnel
Freeosk’s approach to multimedia condenses the marketing funnel by adding a sampling experience.
While in-store advertising often focuses on top-funnel brand awareness, experiential retail media drives product trial directly at the point of consideration. Product samples can serve as the «last, best marketing touch point» for brands with existing awareness, streamlining the path to purchase. For new products or brands, samples act as the «first, best marketing touch point,» potentially driving shoppers through the entire marketing funnel instantly and converting them into brand buyers.
A recent Freeosk campaign for a CPG cookie brand demonstrated the power of this multimedia approach. Shoppers exposed to Freeosk experiential retail media converted at a rate of 0.97% compared to a 0.57% baseline for traditional in-store sampling, representing a 69% increase. Shoppers who engaged with the full multimedia experience, including sampling, had a 4.86% conversion rate. Even those who didn’t sample but were exposed to Freeosk’s dynamic digital creative showed a 0.79% conversion rate, 38% higher than standard sampling, indicating a halo effect on sales.
Multichannel reach: Connecting at every step
What sets Freeosk apart is a commitment to data and measurable impact.
«Every interaction, you’ll see I’m scanning a barcode, is linked to a unique identifier,» Fernando said.
At Sam’s Club, this is a membership card, while other retailers might utilize phone numbers or loyalty cards. This unique identification ensures that Freeosk can track real human engagement, not bots.
«You are seeing in media, you’re getting a sample, and then people work with retailers from the backend with first-party data to see, ‘Did this experience change your behavior?'» said Fernando. This allows Freeosk to track incremental purchases, answering critical questions like whether a sample or media exposure led to a new purchase or increased basket size.
Freeosk’s multichannel strategy reaches shoppers at every step of their journey, mirroring modern shoppers’ navigation between physical and digital media.
Delivering incremental and long-term results
Freeosk’s footprint extends across the U.S., covering 85% of media DMAs. They have a full network at Sam’s Club with 589 clubs and over 100 locations under the Wakefern banner (ShopRite and Fresh Grocer). The company is continuously exploring partnerships with new retailers and is even prototyping smaller versions of their kiosks for specialty stores.
Looking ahead, Freeosk is developing innovations, including a «digital moment to traditionally analog experiences.» This will allow Freeosk’s platform to integrate with demo carts and pop-ups, bringing the data-driven insights of Freeosk to a wider range of in-store activations.
Fernando, who comes from the brand world, emphasized the importance of understanding consumer behavior in these traditionally untracked experiences. «This has become a unit that we can tie to a demo cart, pop-ups in the parking lot, and then it ties into our platform, so again, you sort of really start to get this like full picture of who’s in store,» said Fernando.
Freeosk is not just distributing samples; it’s building a retail media ecosystem that empowers brands to understand, engage and ultimately drive incremental sales in the crucial physical retail environment.
About Sandra Carpenter
Sandra is the editor of Kiosk Marketplace and Vending Times. She has been working in editorial and research roles for over a decade and has experience in print, blog, social media and peer-reviewed publications.
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