Market Track: June 2012
Retailers scaled back on their promotional efforts in June this year when compared to last year—there were decreases in the number of circulars released by the majority of retailers, as well as a decrease in the number of pages per circular.
The overall drop was influenced by JCPenney, which only released one circular in June compared with more than seven last year. JCPenney continues to focus on their new pricing strategy and has reduced the amount of promotions in favor of its “fair and square” pricing model. They announced they would be cutting an additional 350 jobs at their corporate headquarters this week.
In addition, Toys"R"Us, Macy’s East, Safeway, Walgreens and Kohl’s were among the retailers witnessing both a decrease in circulars and page counts. Staples also decreased the number of circulars released to the market, by not sending a circular in the last week of June.
Home Depot and Kmart did not change their strategy in terms of number of circulars, but curtailed on the number of pages as compared to last year.
Sears, Kroger and Walmart were the only retailers who increased both total pages and number of circulars when compared to last year same month.
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].