2026 TECH BUYERS GUIDE

by KYLE SWARTZ

In this interview, Fisch discusses how Samplii grew from an internal scheduling solution into a platform used by retailers, distributors and suppliers, why tasting events remain critical in an increasingly digital marketplace and where he sees retail technology headed next.

BEVERAGE DYNAMICS: TELL ME A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE HISTORY OF SAMPLII. WHEN DID YOU START IT AND WHY DID YOU START IT? MIKE FISCH: Originally, the first form of Samplii was a booking app for Gary ' s, probably back somewhere in 2019 or 2020. We were getting lots and lots of requests for sampling events, and we weren ' t even able to properly manage the process internally.

We had a marketing manager. It certainly was her job to do it, and we dropped the ball on planning these events. Not enough were happening, and we wanted more of them to happen. So we created a very simple booking tool for people to book sampling events. That was way back in 2019, and it ' s obviously developed quite a bit from there.

BD: WHY IS IT DIFFICULT FOR RETAILERS TO BOOK ALL THESE SAMPLING EVENTS? FISCH: There are many different reasons. One is oftentimes retailers don ' t know these events are possible. These suppliers and distributor sales reps are willing to do these events. Suppliers want to do the events. The distributor sales reps have the allocations, but many reps don ' t make it known to retailers that these events are available to them.

When we talk to reps, we hear that distributor sales reps don ' t want to book these events because oftentimes they don ' t go well. We spoke with a distributor the other day; they had an allocation for 50 events from a supplier. They only booked five of them because their reps just don ' t want to book these events.

So that ' s part of the reason these events just don ' t come to the retailer ' s attention. Oftentimes they go to the big-box retailers who make it very easy to book these events.

Then, of course, if you ' ve got multiple stores, managing the request process, the approval process and date changes means you really need to stay on top of it, because you don ' t want to advertise an event that you don ' t have. In many states, you also have to report to the regulatory agency ahead of the event that you ' re going to do it.

All of those things make it complex for a retailer, and they ' ve got a lot of other things to worry about besides events.

BD: TELL ME A LITTLE BIT ABOUT HOW SAMPLII SOLVES THOSE PROBLEMS. FISCH: Samplii takes it completely off the retailer ' s plate and puts it on the plate of those in the industry who are very invested in having these events, such as the supplier, the tasting agency or the distributor sales rep. They can request the event and book the event on the retailer ' s behalf.

For the retailer it ' s very easy. They just get an email and hit approve, when they get an event request.

We know many retailers— especially independent one-store operators— still use paper calendars. So we have to be easier and more beneficial than a paper calendar for those retailers.

BD: WHY ARE THESE EVENTS SO IMPORTANT FOR RETAILERS? FISCH: In the age of AI, where information is at the customer ' s fingertips on their phone and they can order online from anywhere, it ' s important for retailers not to become a commodity.

In order to differentiate and be unique, they need to create unique experiences in their stores, and give people a reason to come into the store instead of just ordering online.

If you consistently have tasting events in the store, we find customers are more loyal and more likely to come back. It also results in higher spend when they ' re in the store, because they ' re feeling like they ' re getting something for free and they want to reciprocate. That ' s just a psychological principle that we see. •