Survey: Marketing Circulars Still Thriving; Digital Circulars Increasingly Impactful

Traditionally, circulars and flyers have been one of the most widely used marketing tools with regards to print. In today’s digital world, however, the same principles seem to be finding a “second life” and remain as effective as ever, according to a recent survey from analytics platform Placed and shopping app Retale. In their survey, they observed that shoppers are still inclined to make use of circulars given to them even if they are in print, and that it would be imperative to have the same service in digital form.

As seen in Figure 1 above, while circulars and flyers are present both digitally and in print, they are still more likely to be used if they come in the mail or are seen in the newspaper. The survey determines that despite the current mantra that “print is dead” in today’s digital age, retailers still believe—with good reason—that weekly print ads still work.

Some other interesting findings from the survey include:

• 74% of mobile users have looked at a circular during the past 30 days
• Of those, 50% viewed circulars inside a mobile app
• 77% wanted to see paper circulars migrate to digital
• Among those who didn’t use a circular in the last 30 days (but stated that they will use one in the future), 60% would prefer to use a digital one
• 41% stated they would prefer to use exclusively digital circulars

Retale President, Pat Dermody, says that this is “very good news” for marketing executives since it shows that a familiar ad format that has thrived in print and is largely responsible for driving in-store traffic “is now also increasingly being consumed across digital channels.”

Figure 2 above details when shoppers would most likely use their digital circulars; and it’s interesting to note that only 12.9% would do so while shopping. Meanwhile, the majority (41.5%) choose to instead look at digital circulars at least a day in advance in order to more efficiently plan out purchases. When asked what products they would most likely do research on first before making in-store purchases, most respondents answered with consumer electronics, clothing, and appliances as their top choices.

According to Retale, 11,000 mobile users were surveyed for their shopping behavior. The full report can be downloaded here.

Have your shopping habits been affected by circulars as well? Do you expect your shopping habits to change or stay the same if circulars were mostly digital instead? Let us know what you’d do in the Comments below.

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