Market Track: February 2013
February 2013 marked a declining trend in number of inserts per market for the some retailers, but due to big increases at Macy’s (+48%) and Staples (+100%), the overall count of inserts per market across all retailers was actually up 4.3%. Home Depot (-50.0%) was the only retailer witnessing a major fall, whereas the other retailers showed only minor declines. Of the remaining retailers that did not see a decrease, five had no change in the number of inserts per market, while three (including Macy’s and Staples) increased.
59% of the advertisers showed an increase in pages per market for February, which resulted in a year over year increase across all retailers of 2.5%.
In addition to the drastic increase in inserts per market, Staples also showed a notable rise (+22.7%) in pages per market. Staples continued its run “Sale” themes in their February inserts this year as well, including “1 Day Sale” and “Home Sale” events.
After Staples, Macy’s (+48.0%) and JCPenney (+33.3%) were the two other retailers that showed significant increases in their inserts per market. JCPenney also had the largest increase in pages per market at +84.6%. As opposed to last year, JCPenney ran several sales events on their insert front pages, including a “Stock Up Sale” and a general “Savings” theme.
Lowes(+50.0%) and Toys R Us(+40.0%) were other retailers who witnessed major increases in their insert page counts per market. Compare that to The Home Depot, who decreased both their inserts per market and pages per market by more than 50% year over year. The Home Depot was joined by Sears, Safeway, and Target—all of whom decreased both their inserts and page counts per markets.
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, 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].