"The printing and distribution of leaflets will be discontinued as of 1 July 2023," REWE's supermarket division announced in a press release today, Wednesday. REWE is thus following in the footsteps of retailers such as Woolworth and OBI, which have also recently announced that they will be phasing out the print leaflet business.
Our study "Die Bedeutung des Prospekts 2022", conducted in collaboration with IFH MEDIA ANALYTICS, shows that leaflets enjoy undisputed popularity - across all age groups. According to the study, 90% of 18-69-year-olds state that they read printed leaflets at least occasionally. This figure hardly changes in the target group of 18-29 year olds: 85% of respondents state that they consume printed leaflets at least occasionally.
In price-sensitive times, driven by factors such as rising inflation and crisis-related uncertainties, the relevance of leaflets is probably higher than ever: consumers actively use leaflets to plan where they can do their weekly shopping at the most attractive prices.
However, the hybrid use of haptic and digital channels for communicating offers is also steadily increasing. Today, 76% of German consumers are hybrid readers. As our study "It's a Match" together with IFH MEDIA ANALYTICS shows, consumers inform themselves via 4.8 channels on average before making a purchase.
The multimedia behaviour of consumers confirms the approach that we pursue as MEDIA Central Group: As the market-leading drive-to-store specialist for data-supported 360° offer communication in retail, we do not view print and digital separately, but symbiotically. To this end, we unite MEDIA Central, the market leader in haptic offer communication, the Offerista Group, Europe's largest network for digital retail marketing, and Yagora, a specialist in data analytics and data science, under one roof.
Our new, innovative product LM³ also shows that print and digital go hand in hand: Based on our 360° solution approach, which takes a synergetic view of print-based and digital retail marketing, we optimise convergent offer communication with Local Media Mix Modelling, or LM³ for short - and we do this on a location-specific basis. We use automated spatial data modelling to analyse the framework conditions of each individual retail location and thus determine the best possible use of print and digital marketing for retail companies.
We are certain that the days of the leaflet are far from numbered, as consumers continue to value it and its advertising impact for communicating offers is unrivalled. However, only the sensible addition of intelligent and data-supported digital measures can realise the full potential of offer communication.
Are you interested? Feel free to contact us! We will be happy to help you by email or visit us in person, for example at the Handelskongress Deutschland 2022.