Ad page increase contributes to comp-store gain

An increase promotional efforts in April contributed to Target’s 13.1% monthly same store sales gain, according to new datafrom the promotional intelligence firm Market Track.

The late arrival of Easter explained some of the increased promotional emphasis, which saw Target produce an average of 153 pages of ad inserts per market compared to 91 the prior year for a 68% increase. Other retailers such as Dollar General, Kroger and Toys“R”Us had an even larger percentage increase while Walmart, Kohl’s and JCPenney grew their ad pages at a slow rate.

Just because Easter came late didn’t mean all retailer boosted advertising in April. Companies such as Best Buy, Home Depot, Lowe’s and Staples saw their April 2011 ads pages decline when compared with the prior year.