Market Track: March 2012
In March there was a decline in the number of circulars overall, however, pages per flyer increased. The increase in pages was primarily due to a significant increase in Walmart and Toys"R"Us page counts. Much of the promotional activity was driven by Easter falling earlier in April as compared to 2011.
Walmart distributed an additional four-page flyer in the week of 3/11/2012; they also circulated two flyers instead one in most of the markets in the week of 3/4/2012. These additional flyers accounted for the increase total pages as compared with last year.
Toys"R"Us followed a similar strategy with an additional eight-page flyer in the week of 3/11/2012 and two flyers instead of one in the week of 3/25/2012. In addition to Walmart and Toys"R"Us, Target and Sears also saw an increase in page count as well as flyer circulation.
Best Buy, CVS, Kmart and Walgreens opted to increase page counts while maintaining the same number of circulars as last year.
Macy’s East, Staples and Safeway increased page counts but reduced the number of circulars when compared with the previous year.
Home Depot and JCPenny continued to witness decline in number of pages per flyer as well as flyer circulation this month compared to March 2011. Home Depot reduced the flyer circulation to half by only circulating two flyers in March 2012 as opposed to 4 flyers in March 2011. JCPenny also decreased the number of circulars as well as page counts.
Kroger and Lowe's also saw decline in both pages per flyer as well as flyer circulations.
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].