New Survey Reveals: Traditional Marketing-Friendly Format Enjoying Second Life in Digital Media, 74% of Mobile Users Have Read Retail Circulars in Last 30 Days


CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwired - Oct 15, 2014) -    

  • Over 56% of circular views have come from digital format

  • 82% report they use circulars to plan shopping trips before heading out to stores

  • Retale launches partnership with Placed, the leader in location insights and mobile ad intelligence

Retale, the leading permission-based mobile and digital company connecting shoppers with their favorite local retailers, and Placed, the leader in location insights and mobile ad intelligence, today announced the results of a study examining shopping behaviors of more than 11,000 mobile users.

The study by Retale (http://www.retale.com) and Placed (http://www.placed.com) probed a wide range of shopping behaviors to better understand the impact of retailers' ad circulars on purchasing decisions among mobile users.

The data includes several compelling highlights for retailers:

  • 74% mobile users have looked at a circular in the last 30 days.
  • Of those 50% viewed circulars inside a mobile app.
  • Only 23% of the respondents who reported using print circulars prefer to stick exclusively with the printed format.
  • Among those not using a circular in the last 30 days, but saying they will use one in the future, 60% prefer to use a digital one.

Even among those respondent who reported not having used a circular in the previous 30 days, 85% plan to use one in the future.

"For the savvy retail marketing executive this is very good news: a familiar ad format, well known for driving in-store traffic, is now also increasingly being consumed across digital channels," said Retale President Pat Dermody.

MOBILE AND DIGITAL NEARING PRINT LEVELS

Interestingly, the activities that shoppers report on digital circulars are similar to those long-held truths in the paper world. Among those who currently access digital circulars, almost 82% report they do so to plan shopping trips before heading out to the stores. Only 13% say that they access digital circulars while actually in a store implying that digital circular use has the power to catalyze a store visit just like its paper ancestor.

"The ability to measure online behaviors and map them to offline actions is changing the way retail attributes value to digital," said David Shim, Founder and CEO at Placed. "The partnership between Retale and Placed enables retailers to quantify the true value of circulars -- in-store visits."

 How users access digital circulars:

  • Just under 70% of respondents say they access a retailer's website.
  • 53% say they have downloaded a mobile app for a specific retailer.
  • Over 31% have accessed digital circulars using a mobile app that aggregates weekly ads of multiple retailers. 

A whopping 79% of those who use mobile aggregators cited "convenience" as the basis of their preference.

With the announcement of the survey, Retale also launches a partnership with Placed. The collaboration will allow retailers to measure real world store visits from customers engaging with circulars inside the Retale app. Leveraging the world's largest opt-in panel, measuring over 200 million locations a day, Placed provides the clearest integrated view of digital behavior, physical location, and the impact of media.

Retale digitizes and aggregates weekly circulars for retailers throughout the United States. By seamlessly delivering relevant ad promotions to mobile audiences throughout the country, Retale has become the leading permission-based mobile app for retailers partnering with over 130 brands to-date.

For complete study results, please request the white paper from tim.gray@retale.com.

About Retale
Retale is the leading permission-based mobile app for retailers partnering with more than 130 brands. The U.S.-based company transforms print circulars into a interactive digital format and works with top retailers to provide on-the-go consumers an engaging, enriched shopping experience. Retale is available on the web, mobile, and as a downloadable app. The company is a member of Bonial International Group with a presence in Chicago, Berlin, Munich, Paris, Barcelona, Moscow and São Paulo.

About Placed
Placed is the leader in location-driven insights and ad intelligence. Measuring billions of locations across the world's largest opt-in mobile location panel, Placed provides the most complete understanding of consumers' offline behaviors. Connecting the physical and digital worlds, Placed gives brands, agencies, publishers and ad networks the ability to target location at scale, measure the offline impact of ads, and deliver actionable insights into consumer behavior.