CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — It's free samples. It's a kiosk. It's Freeosk.
"Freeosk is the tech-enabled, contactless way for shoppers to discover their new favorite products," Matt Eichorn, the company's CEO and co-founder, tells WBBM Newsradio's Jim Gudas.
Freeosk makes interactive vending machines for stores that dispense free samples of products to consumers.
"They watch a short video about the brand, and then seconds later a sample drops into a drop zone," Eichorn said. "If they try it right there in the store and they like it, they can just pick up the product that's for sale on the shelf, and put it in their cart and away they go."
Eichorn said Freeosks promote several different products, ranging from snacks to health and beauty items to pet products. "By far our most engagement comes from anything featuring chocolate," he said.
Interest in Freeosks grew during the pandemic.
"The fact that consumers are interested in trying new products hasn't changed. What has changed is their willingness to interact with someone in that process, and Freeosk is that solution," Eichorn said.
The company dates back to 2014. It launched in about 600 Sam's Clubs, Eichorn said, before expanding into Walmart. Supermarkets are hopefully next.
"We're now at about 1,300 locations, and within the next two years we hope to triple the size of the network," he said.
