Do you like chatting with people and offering helpful tips? Is your schedule flexible enough to periodically allow you 4-5 hours ‘off’ in order to leave the house and work a side gig? Then you may have what it takes to become a product demonstrator and earn up to $14/hour by handing out samples and coupons, or showing potential customers how a product works.
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Product demonstrators are everywhere, from the grocery store aisle to the shopping mall to even the local carnival. Companies make use of such demonstrators to capture audience information via surveys, promote new and/or existing products, provide discounts, and answer customer questions.
Where can you go to get started as a product demonstrator?
Product demonstrator online job sites
There are several online sites dedicated to listing demo gigs. Here is a sampling of such sites:
AtWork– This company offers product demonstrator gigs all over the U.S. and pays $11/hour plus benefits. When looking for work with AtWork, your best bet is to use its integrated job board and input search terms like ‘product demonstrator’ and ‘event specialist.’
Big Orange Productions– The average daily payout from Big Orange is listed as $77.14 on Indeed, and positions with this company pay $15-$20/hour. This company contracts demonstrators, or brand ambassadors, and sends them out to grocery and liquor stores, as well as other retailers, to help with demo set-up and product promotion.
Work shifts are about five hours long and run from Thursday to Sunday (11 am- 4 pm). Product demonstrators can select the events they wish to work by using the company’s portal. The company also provides position training.
Club Demonstration Services– This company offers product demonstrator positions all across the U.S. (and will soon be in Canada) on a part-time basis. According to Glassdoor data, demonstrators earn roughly $11-$12/hour. CDS is the in-house demo company for Costco, incidentally, so most if not all of your shifts will probably occur in that store.
CDS also offers part-time product demonstrator shift supervisor positions, which pay roughly $13/hour.
Crossmark -This marketing services company offers product demonstrator positions in both the U.S. and Canada. Most of the work occurs during the weekend and between the hours of 10 am – 7 pm. According to Glassdoor, the typical hourly rate for this gig is $9-$10/hour, with event demonstrators making a bit more at $11/hour. Demonstrators work up to 25 hours/weekend.
Dyson– This high-end vacuum company hires demonstrators, or sales experts, at $17/hour with no commission. Overall, the feedback is positive. Demonstrators report working half or even full days on weekends and weekday holidays at retailers like Costco, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Best Buy. Demonstrator jobs are part-time and available all around the U.S.
Zip Recruiter is a good place for searching on Dyson jobs. Type in “Dyson Expert” as your keyword and you should get a list of geographic locations looking for demonstrators.
Healthy Bites Demo Company– According to Indeed, this company averages $16.46/hour for demonstrators. Most of the work is based in California and involves driving from location to location to do demos of products like freshly squeezed juices, coffee, smoked wild salmon, etc.
Market Connect Group– This company hires part-time demonstrators throughout the year, but especially around November and December, during the holiday shopping season. Average pay seems to be a bit higher than at other companies, with Indeed reporting $18.90/hour. From the reviews posted about this company, it appears that you can’t expect steady work here.
To locate demonstrator jobs, go to the company jobs board and input the search term demonstrator. Hopefully, you’ll see a job listing such as this one pop up:
PromoWorks– This company hires product demonstrators (PDs), also called engagement specialists (ESs), to promote products at grocery stores and other retailers. PDs earn $11-$22/hour, while ESs earn $9-$10/hour. It seems that the demonstrators are more senior to the specialists and receive higher compensation due to their additional duties, such as mentoring.
Don’t forget to apply directly to stores and retailers
Not every grocery store or retailer works with a big marketing firm. Some businesses hire product demonstrators directly. Oftentimes, these positions will also be more lucrative because the business is paying you directly, and not a marketing firm middleman.
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How to make more money as a product demonstrator
Once you have a few product demonstrations under your belt, you might be able to make a bonus by reviewing the product yourself, and especially if you can post your review to your own website or blog. At the very least, you should be able to keep the product as part of your compensation.
Successful product demonstrators can also sometimes collaborate with other demo and marketing companies to increase their number of gigs. This is especially useful if one store is working with two or more such companies- all you have to do is return to that same store and perform a slightly different gig to double or even triple your daily earnings.
Don’t forget about Demo Sales. We partner with independent contractors to execute demos in Publix!
I read your post with interest and note that you refer to hourly rates of pay including benefits.
I just wondered whether these demonstrator positions were regarded as employment positions or whether they were freelance gigs like Fiverr etc?
Who sorts out your taxes? You or the “employer?”
Do they guarantee a certain number of hours each week as part of a contract or is it fully flexible and ad hoc?
Me again,
I subscribed to your Website so you will be seeing me here a lot lol. I just love the idea of “I’ve tried that”
So these are great opportunities as usual but I am still not seeing anything nice and simple like these for people in the Caribbean :(
You Americans and Canadians have all the fun. I would love to try one of these! I wish they were available here. Sigh.
Thanks for the great suggestions though. Some lucky folks will appreciate these.
I am excited about this article and can’t wait to share it. I spoke with a friend earlier today about my desire to earn some extra cash. She mentioned checking out being a product demonstrator because we were at a store a few days ago watching a demonstration of the best knife ever. Now here I am reading an article that is giving me the information that I need. I am so interested in Healthy Bites Demo Company. I hope it is in my state.
I loved your article, it was very insightful and a very interesting read, I’m definitely going to share this on my Facebook page
Thanks for the great read Steve, I never knew I could make extra money and freebies by demonstrating products
I’m definitely going to try this out, wish me luck !
-Finn
WOW! Sounds like a great way to pick up extra cash on a part time basis. Well thought out article. Being 68 and sorta retired, its something I will be sure to bookmark and check out. Great information, presented in an easy to understand way. It would seem to me that anyone needing extra money would benefit from this post.
Hi there! Great article, I really like he sound of doing this sort of thing and it isn’t badly paid either. I live in the UK and although we don’t seem to have too much of this kind of work, there is a little. One of my friends recently got a job demonstrating the latest Microsoft products for PC World. There was a bit of training involved but the money was really good.
To make a little extra cash a month demonstrating products sounds like a good idea for someone like my dad who is looking for a retirement gig. He likes talking to people, and he can sit there and sell. Who would he contact in our area, Southern California, to set up a gig as a demonstrator?
Brad
You’ll have to go through the list of companies above and see if there are any in SC that will hire him. I don’t know offhand which companies work in that area.
Steve,
Every day you can learn something new. I had no idea this kind of work existed.
I often wondered when visiting Costco or Sam’s club, who were these people preparing all the little food stops at the end of the aisle. I guess its part of this line of work.
Thanks for all the great information,
Doug
HI there, I had no idea that product demonstrating was even a possibility as a job. I’m not sure it’s for me though because I tend to be very shy and I don’t know how well I’d do having to get behind a product in person to get other people to buy it.
Very interesting article on how to earn extra money and freebies as a product distributor Steve, I must admit that I hadn’t really thought of doing this as an extra income source.
You have certainly given a few great options to earn some extra money by doing this, I guess it just depends on what resonates with you.
Personally, I like driving, so the Healthy Bites Demo Company sounds like a good option, just wondering if they pay for car running costs, otherwise, it may not be worth it?
You’ll have to contact them directly John and see what kind of compensation plans they offer.