Market Track: April 2012
There was an increase in the number of circulars retailers released in the month of April, while page counts increased only slightly.
JCPenney significantly decreased both page counts and the number of circulars this month, in accordance with their overall shift in strategy. In 2011, they released two circulars during the second, third and fourth week, however, this year one flyer was dropped per market and they did not drop anything the fourth week. JCPenney did not promote Easter in the week prior to the event (4/1/2012) this year as compared to a 20-page Easter flyer prior to the week of Easter (4/17/2011). This also made an impact on their page count, resulting in 59 percent drop compared to 2011.
Toys R Us also scaled back their promotional velocity as compared to last year and did not distribute a circular the second week in comparison with last year. They also released one flyer instead of two in the week of 4/15/2012 when compared with the corresponding week last year.
Walmart is one retailer who was more aggressive in April. They sent out two flyers prior to Easter week as opposed to one last year. Also they increased page count by 16 pages. They also dropped an additional flyer in the last week of April bringing the ‘Spring’ collection.
Similar trends were followed by Sears and Macy’s East this month when compared to the previous year, with notable increases in both page counts and the number of circulars. Macy’s East increased more than 43% in both cases.
Lowes and Home Depot followed the same promotional strategy of not modifying their circulation; however, Lowes decreased the number of pages by more than 14%.
It’s important to note a number of factors should be considered when examining the number of inserts and pages retailers send into the marketplace. Market Track’s granular level of data reflects regional versioning and market specific differences. This is accomplished through an extensive collections process, including physically obtaining the ads from the various markets in which they are distributed. In the instance that retailers send additional circulars to a limited number of markets, Market Track’s information reflects these nuances through numbers with decimals (for average number of inserts per market) and odd numbers (for average number of pages).
About Market Track:
Market Track is a market intelligence firm dedicated to increasing customers’ returns on their promotional investments. Through innovative technology and marketplace expertise, they monitor and analyze over 200 U.S. and Canadian markets for every channel of trade in order provide retailers and manufacturers with superior tools to monitor promotional activity, support dynamic decision making and turn information into market intelligence. For more information, contact Market Track at 1.800.235.3781 or e-mail [email protected].