The store flyer’s popularity soars amid digital push
Mass media are grappling with an ongoing migration of readers from print to digital formats, but when it comes to retail store flyers, consumers still maintain a solid grip on paper, a group of retailers and flyer distributors said Tuesday.
That could all change in five years as digital flyers become increasingly interactive and localized, attendees heard at the Retail Council of Canada’s annual RAC marketing conference.
Aiming to reduce marketing budgets, some of Canada’s traditional retailers have invested heavily in digital flyers, most notably Canadian Tire in its SportChek division. And at Canadian Tire’s core retail division, executives reported online sales doubled last year after the firm mailed out a paper catalogue that interacted with its mobile app to unlock additional information for shoppers, including detailed product information, ratings, videos, and other content.
Lisa Orpen, vice-president of national and multimedia market sales at publishing and distribution company Metroland Media, said the company distributes more than four billion flyers per year in Ontario alone.
And while that number has not dipped in recent years, Orpen said, the dynamics of the flyer mail-out cycle have changed: retailers have developed a more targeted distribution list to fewer households, and they are delivering flyers more often now than they did in the past.
That’s because flyers still work as a marketing tool, Orpen said: 91 per cent of Canadians still read a grocery flyer each month, according to research from Toronto-based Brandspark. Research also suggests consumers are more likely to go shopping when they receive a paper flyer. “You can see it in the sales results,” said Orpen, “and you can even tie it to specific items (advertised in a weekly circular).”
That said, retailers agree that paper flyers will have to work in increasing harmony with digital properties in the future, and will need to facilitate the kind of searching consumers typically do on digital and social media: looking up product information and reviews, making price comparisons, and accessing ancillary content that might not come in a traditional flyer.
“We always want to provide patients with tips for taking care of their health,” said Paule Racine, director of marketing communications at the pharmacy chains Guardian and IDA. “Imagine it’s allergy season, and you go to a (flyer) offer and view a video that is going to provide you with extra information,” Racine said. “Being able to provide that window of extra content through digital is really exciting to us and certainly is driving us to reduce some of the printed and push digital in the years to come.”
Over the next five years, the valuable customer data collection associated with digital media and loyalty programs will become more relevant to retailers as they become more able to target consumers, said Jeff Tate, vice-president of marketing at the electronics and photography retailer Henry’s. “Print is going to exist, but we will get smarter and more focused on what we use it for,” he said. “Your phone will be the main way of looking at flyers — it’s already happening now.”