Good news for retailers who use traditional advertising: Inserts and circulars are still among the top media sources adults turn to when making purchasing decisions, according to a recent study, “Vertis Customer Focus 2008: Retail Study,” conducted by Marshall Marketing & Media.
The study revealed that 26 percent of shoppers turned to circulars in 2007 for information before making their purchases, down from 30 percent in 2004, the last time a similar survey was conducted.
“This research proves advertising inserts and circulars are a valuable marketing tool, even in a day and age when consumers are constantly being bombarded by marketing messages,” said Scott Marden, director of marketing research for Vertis, the marketing firm that commissioned the study.
Moving down the list, Internet advertising made the biggest leap in the media survey to 26 percent, up from 15 percent in 2004. In third place — and with the biggest loss in popularity among consumers — was newspaper advertising, down to 12 percent in 2007.
Similar studies have backed up the insert and circular findings: A BIGresearch study in December 2007 found that newspaper inserts were very influential on electronics purchases, with more than three out of 10 respondents saying inserts had affected their buys. Only word of mouth and reading articles were cited by more consumers.
How is your garden center promoting spring specials and the hottest new products? Does your advertising budget reflect consumer preferences for how they receive marketing messages? For more information on this study, visit eMarketer’s website.
