Survey: 82 Percent Use Retail Circulars Before In-Store Shopping

Print “circular ads” in newspapers have historically been one of the most effective retail advertising vehicles. And while retail is the top online advertising category, today, most “circular advertising” remains in print.

A new survey from mobile shopping app Retale and location analytics platform Placed argues for accelerated migration of print circular ad content into digital formats and mobile, in particular. The two companies, which also announced a partnership to measure the offline impact of digital circulars, polled 11,000 mobile users about their attitudes and preferences tied to circular content.

The survey found:

1. 74 percent have looked at a circular in the last 30 days

2. More than half (56 percent) accessed circular content online or via mobile during that time

3. 77 percent of respondents would like to see paper circulars “migrate to digital”

4. 82 percent of respondents use circulars (in some form) prior to visiting stores

There are a lot of additional findings. However, at the highest level, as one might expect, the data argue that users prefer circular content on their smartphones and tablets and that digital distribution has significant potential to influence their real-world purchases.

The data show that most people who consult circular ads do so before shopping in offline stores. Only 13 percent said that they consulted circulars while in the store. The inference drawn here is that digital circular content “has the power to catalyze a store visit just like its paper ancestor.”

Among the more interesting findings are responses to the question, “Which of these types of products do you most often research online and then purchase in a physical store?” Respondents were allowed to select multiple product categories.

Here are the categories, in order, that users said they were most likely to research online before buying in the store.

1. Consumer electronics

2. Apparel

3. Appliances

4. Toys

5. Grocery and pharmacy

6. Crafts and home furnishings

7. Other

8. Pets

The Retale-Placed partnership is intended to give retailers visibility on which digital ads drove in-store visits. Retale is the U.S. division of Bonial International Group, based in Berlin. The company previously told me that though it began on the PC now 80 percent of usage comes through its mobile apps.

You can download the full survey report here (registration required).