Kantar Media reports retailer participation in FSIs increased 21.6 percent to more than 11.3 billion pages
MINNEAPOLIS, MN July 17, 2013 – Free Standing Insert (FSI) coupon activity increased 3.3 percent based on Coupons dropped during the first six months of 2013 versus the same time period a year ago, according to Marx, a Kantar Media solution.
“FSIs, which reach an average of more than 70 million households on a specific Sunday, remain a significant advertising vehicle for both manufacturers and retailers to influence consumer behavior,” said David Hamric, General Manager at Marx. “Manufacturers are reducing their financial risk by shortening the overall expiration lengths of coupons but are incentivizing consumers with higher face values and issuing more coupons within the marketplace.” Hamric stated.
Kantar Media, the industry standard for tracking FSI coupon activity, also reports that retailer promotion activity continued to grow with a 21.6 percent increase to more than 11.3 billion pages in the first half of 2013. Walmart continued to lead in retailer activity followed by Walgreens, Target and Family Dollar. Seven of the top 20 retailers more than doubled their pages circulated in the first half of 2013.
“Retailers can gain a competitive advantage by participating in retailer FSI promotions as a way to capture a greater share of shopping trips among households that use coupons,” said Hamric. “In the first half of 2013, a wide variety of retailers are participating in retail promotion including Food, Mass, Drug, Pet/Specialty and now Wholesale (BJ’s) and Convenience (7-Eleven) stores, which appeared in the top 20 retailers for the first time in the first half of 2013. Through Kantar Media’s DirectHEAT® service, our clients are able to identify how competitive brands are aligning with retailer advertising and promotion programs during key weeks to drive trips, transactions, and profits,” concluded Hamric.
Overall FSI Activity
During the first half of 2013, more than $247 billion in consumer incentives were delivered via FSI coupons in Sunday newspapers, up 8.8 percent from the same period in 2012. During the same six month period, more than 153 billion coupons were distributed within more than 112 billion FSI pages.
FSI coupon Average Face Value increased 5.3 percent to $1.61 for the first half 2013. Average Expiration (Fuse) dropped to 7.1 weeks, down 5.0 percent versus a year ago, which is the fifth consecutive year of declining Fuse lengths during the first half of the year.
Source: Kantar Media
Sector Activity
The Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) sector remains the largest user of FSI pages with a 75.8 percent share, followed by Direct Response, which includes general advertising activity, and Franchise, comprised of restaurants, portrait studios, and other businesses. CPG Pages Circulated had a 3.7 percent increase to more than 85.5 billion pages following a two year decline. Franchises remained flat at 11.2 billion pages after a large increase in the first half of 2012. Direct Response had the only decrease in Pages Circulated, down 7.5 percent to more than15.9 billion pages.
Source: Kantar Media
Top 10 Retailers based on Pages Circulated
Retailer promotion pages increased 21.6 percent to more than 11.3 billion pages in the first half of 2013. The number of manufacturers participating in retailer promotions increased 3.4 percent to 240, while the number of retailers decreased 7.8 percent to 107. Retailers from Mass (Walmart, Target), Value (Family Dollar, Dollar General), Drug (Walgreens, CVS), Pet Specialty (PETsMART) and Food (Safeway, Vons and Kroger) comprised the top ten retailers.
Walmart continued to hold the top spot based on number of Pages Circulated with an increase of 40.3 percent to 3.6 billion pages, which was the largest actual increase among the top ten retailers. Family Dollar had the largest actual decline in Pages Circulated among the top ten, down 37.1 percent in the first half of 2013. These trends reflect the overall growth of retailer promotion within traditional FSI vehicles to drive trips, transactions, and profits across channels and retail formats.
Source: Kantar Media
CPG Non-Food vs. Food
In the first half of 2013, Non-Food categories distributed more than 96.1 billion coupons, up 4.7 percent versus the same time period in 2012, while Food categories distributed 57.2 billion coupons, an increase of 1.4 percent. Within Non-Food, the Personal Care area had the largest actual increase in Coupons Dropped, while within Food the Frozen Products area reported the largest actual increase.
Additionally, manufacturers are increasing the value of the offers that being delivered to consumers in the Non-Food segment. Weighted Average Face Value (WAFV) for Non-Food increased 7.3 percent to $1.98 and was combined with a 2.4 point increase in Multiple Purchase Requirements (MPR). This resulted in the Weighted Average Face Value Per Unit (WAFVPU) increasing 5.3 percent to $1.69. WAFV for Food decreased 2.3 percent to $1.01 and was combined with a 2.6 point decrease in MPR -resulting in WAFVPU remaining flat at $0.74.
Source: Kantar Media
Top 10 FSI Product Types in First Half 2013 (by Coupons Dropped*)
The top 10 product types based on Coupons Dropped accounted for 36.1 percent of all FSI coupon activity during the first half of 2013. Shaving Cream/Razor ranked first with a 45.5 percent increase in Coupons Dropped to more than7.3 billion. Combination/Personal products (a group of products which have extensions that cross multiple Personal Care categories) dropped to second, having a decline of 3.2 percent and distributing more than 7.3 billion coupons. Hair Care moved from a rank of 8 to a rank of 3 during the first half of 2013, having distributed more than 6.5 billion coupons. Meat/Refrigerated moved into the top 10, having gained three spots from a rank of 12 to 9 with a 33.4 percent increase to 4.1 billion coupons.
Source: Kantar Media
*Coupons Dropped equals the actual number of coupons distributed in FSI inserts for manufacturers’ brands.
Top 10 Categories for New Product Activity
During the first half of 2013, there were 209 new products that delivered FSI coupons compared to 204 new products during the same period in 2012. Event dates increased from 312 to 318 and the total number of categories participating in new product activity declined from 75 to 72. The average number of event dates for a new product launch was flat at 1.5.
Source: Kantar Media
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