ECRM: Retail circular advertising trends, February 2015

ECRM compared retail circular advertising in February 2014 vs. February 2015 and noted trends occurring across top retail chains.

Circular Front page promotions for Flonase® allergy relief were seen at CVS and Walgreens; highlighting its February 4th OTC availability. These drug retailers had little notable change in February circular metrics, and for the two weeks prior to Valentine’s Day CVS candy promotions jumped 18%; Walgreens promotions up 10%. Lowes Home Improvement added an additional February circular while Home Depot averaged nearly 24% more ad blocks per page. Home Depot promoted mainly appliances in the 2015 February circular. Absent were the bath update product promotions seen in the 2014 circular. H.E.B. grew circular page usage by 27% accounting for an additional average 25 ad blocks per February circular. Target used 8% more circular pages in 2015. A large February kitchen appliance sale was seen at Target Y/Y. Walmart featured “Simple Meals @ Walmart” themed Wrap pages in the 2/22/2015 circular. This crafty section promoted three main ingredients required to make the pictured meal. Toys-R-Us promoted a BOGO 40% Lego event on its February 2015 circular Front page.

About ECRM’s Business Intelligence:

ECRM’s Ad Comparisons technology captures promotional data from the top U.S. and Canadian retailers in all major markets. Ad Comparisons captures over 40 metrics for each ad block and provides hundreds of analytic reports to put the advertising data in context. Ad Comparisons takes an individual approach to ensure all data and reports fit the needs of each user.