Market Track: June 2011

Overall, the number of inserts and pages declined slightly across the retailer set in June 2011 versus June 2010.

In line with the overall trend, Target and Walmart both decreased their number of inserts by 11% and 4%, respectively, but achieved a higher number of pages per market. Specifically, Walmart nearly doubled their number of pages from June 2010 in June 2011, which was shown in their increase in page count during the weeks promoting Father’s Day and July 4th. In 2010, Walmart dropped a single 12-page Father’s Day flyer, while in 2011, they supplemented this ad with an additional 2-page Father’s Day flyer in the majority of their markets. For the weekend of July 4th, Walmart’s primary flyer increased its pages from 12 pages in 2010 to 20 pages in 2011, which mirrored the pattern the weekend of Memorial Day, where their page count increased from 4 pages to 20 pages in 2011. Target modestly increased their number of pages by 3% during this time frame.

Within drug stores, CVS noticeably decreased their number of pages from 80 in June 2010 to 66 pages in June 2011, by decreasing their 16-page flyers to 12-page flyers in most of their markets, in spite of an 8% increase in the number of inserts. In comparison, Walgreens only slightly changed their number of inserts and pages, with a marginal increase in pages.

In 2011, Lowes moved to a more even page distribution week over week, by dropping a flyer that had 10-pages on average. This was in contrast to their page distribution in 2010, in which their Father’s Day flyers the week of May 30 and June 6 contained almost twice the number of pages (approximately 20 pages).

In 2011, Staples dropped an additional flyer during the week before July 4th, sharing promotional space with Best Buy who had also dropped their own flyer that same week. Staples increased their overall page number by 17% for June 2011 as a result of dropping this 4-page flyer.

Of note, Safeway retailers and Macy’s East noticeably increased their number of pages in 2011 (by 28% and 17% respectively), while their counterparts, Kroger retailers and JC Penney, decreased their page numbers slightly.

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].