Coupon activity increased 3.4% during the first six months of 2014

Minneapolis -- Free standing Insert (FSI) coupon activity increased 3.4% t based on coupons dropped during the first six months of 2014 versus the year ago period, according to Marx, a Kantar Media solution. Coupons dropped within non-food categories increased 8.2% to represent 65% of the 158 billion FSI coupons distributed during this period.



“Increases in FSI coupon activity within the non-food segment were driven by the health care and the personal care areas, which continue to leverage FSI coupons to effectively deliver advertising impact, purchase incentives and retailer merchandising support for their brands,” said Dan Kitrell, VP account solutions at Marx.



During the first six months of 2014, food categories distributed 55.9 billion coupons, a decrease of 3.9% with the refrigerated foods area reporting the largest actual decrease.



Retailer promotion pages increased 26.8% to more than 14.5 billion pages in the first half of 2014. The number of manufacturers participating in retailer promotions increased from 236 in the first half of 2013 to 335 during the first half of 2014. The number of retailers also increased, from 107 in 2013 to 125 in 2014. Retailers from mass (Walmart, Target), drug (Walgreens, CVS), value (Family Dollar, Dollar General) and food (Safeway, Kroger, Publix, and Vons retail banners) comprised the top ten retailers.



Walmart continued to hold the top spot based on number of pages circulated with an increase of 45.9% to more than 5.2 billion pages, which was the largest actual increase among the top ten retailers. These trends reflect the overall growth of retailer promotion within traditional FSI vehicles to reach shoppers in the home to drive trips, transactions, and profits across channels and retail formats.