Deflation & food samples at food hall

I understand Japan is in the middle of a long deflation & consumers are not spending as they used to in the good old days.
Now I wonder if that is the reason why sales staff in the food hall (in the basement of shopping centres) are so willing to hand out free samples to potential customers??? I was in Japan recently & I was surprised to see ladies handing out food samples. In my country, sales promoters are totally different; they will guard their food samples jealously & carefully, afraid to let passers-by eat them.
So I was was pleasantly surprised at Japan's generosity. Is this to do with deflation or is this to do with the mindset?

You don't say what country you're from, but what's the purpose of food samples if you're not going to hand them out? That doesn't even make sense.

And no, food samples don't have anything to do with deflation - they've always been around, even (especially?) during the bubble years.

It's either deflation or mindset. I don't know where you are from, but food sampling is a basic marketing tactic where I've seen in US, Germany and Taiwan (where I've traveled before).

Instead of the sellers spending money on newspaper/TV ads, they just give a piece of what they make to nearest potential buyers. If they like the food, they will come back and buy what you offer at the storefront. It's a good attraction as well to potential buyers, if people are gathering around at the storefront, hopefully having approved smiles, or maybe whispering positive remarks among friends.

Of course there is always someone just walking around without intensions of purchasing. But thatfs just the part of marketing cost. Maybe 1 in 10 people who took the samples will buy the actual products, but thatfs still a success because small pieces of samples come probably from morning old/cracked /irregularly shaped items which would be thrown away in the first place.

According to Wiki, food sampling in Japan started in 1936 at Matsuzakaya, a department store in Nagoya. This is the era when the world was suffering from the great depression so the economical condition might have something to do with it to flourish the service. But I believe the depa-chika (underground food malls of the department stores) were doing food sampling even in the 60's, when Japan were experiencing the hyper-growth with 15% inflation.

I live in Canada and some food stores offer free samples to anyone that wants it.
You can go back for another helping if you want to. ..

I am too embarrrassed to spell my country name here due to the ugly behaviour I posted above. Really, those oba-chan I mentioned are everywhere! Out of 10, 7 to 8 would be like this. The remaining 2 to 3 generous oba-chan are a rare breed. I wonder what the hell they guard their food so jealously for. If one wants to have a quick sample, just passing by the oba-chan is not enough. You have to go up to her & ask. Even if there is a crowd surrounding her, it does not mean the oba-chan is giving out free food. It could be that she is still preparing them but crowds of hungry shoppers have already gathered around, eager to stretch their greedy hands out the moment she is ready.

And I notice that generous food samples are not only being given out at depa-chika but also at airport!!! I was so surprised, and happy of course. In my airport, there is NONE to speak of. So poor tourists cannot enjoy themselvse one last time before they board their flight home.

Particularly at supermarkets, the obachans cooking sausages on a hot plate target small children. The obachans give away free samples to hungry and curious children, and when the mother finds her child she gets embarrassed as if her child is not well fed, and are compelled to buy unnecessary pack of sausages.
That is how it works...

Ahaha. Yes that is a good tactic but in my country, the obachan are even shrewder. They do not give away free food to children if they don't see their mother with them because it is no guarantee that mothers will come looking for their children. Sometimes, it is the children who will run back to their mother after taking a free bite. LOL.