Market Track: August 2011
In the month of August, there was an overall 2% decline in pages and 5% decline in inserts per market versus 2010.
Lowes was one of the retailers who slowed promotional activity in 2011, by entirely pulling out two weeks of 2-page inserts and by decreasing their page-per-flyer count by an average of 4 pages.
While Macy’s East maintained the same number of pages this August versus last year, the 60-page insert that was dropped in in major markets in 2010 was discontinued in order to drop additional inserts in more markets. One of these additional flyers promoted Super Saturday in the second week of August and was dropped in majority of Macy’s East markets.
Best Buy was yet another example of retailers who scaled back regional flyers (decreasing their overall insert count by 3%) and instead increased page-per-flyer count (11%).
Meanwhile Walmart maintained the same number of inserts in August 2011 but increased the pages of their Game Day and two Back to School flyers by more than 50%, increasing their overall page count by 31% in August 2011.
Drug Retailers CVS and Walgreens and Mass Retailers Kmart and Target did not significantly change their page or insert count in August 2011 versus year ago.
It’s important to note a number of factors that 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, it monitors 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].