Retail coupon activity increases in 2014, according to report

Minneapolis - Retailer participation in freestanding insert (FSI) coupon events and digital coupons distributed on retailer websites benefited from double-digit increases in 2014 compared to 2013. According to data from Marx, a Kantar Media solution, those participation rates were up 11.8% and 16.5%, respectively.



During this same period, retailer feature ad pages increased 4.2% while overall retailer advertising among Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) retailers decreased 2.8%. Significant shifts in advertising and promotion activity were observed among leading retailers across the mass, food, drug, and other retail sales channels. For example, Wal-Mart increased its consumer promotion activity with a 15.7% increase in FSI promotion pages and an 18.4% increase in digital coupon events on Walmart.com in 2014.



In contrast, Target had the second-highest levels of advertising expenditures and retailer FSI promotion pages behind Wal-Mart, but decreased advertising 6.1%, decreased FSI promotion pages 11.1%, and decreased digital coupon events on Target.com by 36.6% in 2014. These shifts in advertising and promotion may ultimately translate into shifts in share of shoppers, trips, and sales between these two leading retailers.



CVS had the greatest percent increase in retailer advertising activity among the top mass, food and drug retailers, up 10.3% from 2013. CVS also increased its participation in retailer FSI promotion pages by 47.2%, digital coupon events by 23.8%, and retail feature ad pages by 4.6%.