FSI Use Down Nearly 4% in Early ‘11

Free-standing insert coupon activity decreased 3.9 percent based on coupons dropped during the first six months of 2011 versus the same time period a year ago.

That’s according to Marx, a Kantar Media solution, who noted this decline is the first reported in coupons dropped in the first half of the year since 2008 when there was a 3.4 percent decline. “After several years of significant growth, FSI coupon activity may be stabilizing while more integrated print and digital coupon promotion tactics are emerging. For example, some CPG brands are using their FSI events to drive shoppers to their brand websites or social media websites to download coupons,” said Mark Nesbitt, president of Kantar Media Intelligence North America. “Additionally, some CPG manufacturers are distributing digital coupons on retailer websites to support their major corporate scale themed FSI coupon events. Clearly, FSI coupons remain a critical component within an integrated promotion mix.”

Kantar Media also reports that retailer promotion activity continued to grow with a 27.3 percent increase to 8.4 billion pages in the first half of 2011. Walmart jumped from being ranked 13th based on pages circulated during the first half of 2010 to lead retailer promotion activity for the first half of 2011. Seven of the top 10 retailers increased pages circulated during the first half of 2011 versus one year ago. Additionally, the number of manufacturers participating in retailer promotion events increased from 211 during the first half of 2010 to 293 during the first half of 2011.

“More manufacturers are partnering with their leading retailers on promotion events designed to reach shoppers in-the-home when they are developing purchase intent and planning shopping trips,” Nesbitt said. “Walmart may be using retailer promotion events to emphasize their renewed focus on product assortment and to attract a greater share of shoppers that use coupons to their stores.”

During the first half of 2011, more than $236 billion in consumer incentives were delivered via FSI coupons in Sunday newspapers, up 0.8 percent from the same period in 2010. During the same six month period, more than 149 billion coupons were distributed within more than 111 billion FSI pages. FSI coupon average face value achieved a new record level in the first half of 2011 at $1.58, up 4.9 percent versus the first half of 2010. However, average expiration (fuse) dropped to 8.3 weeks, down 6.3 percent versus a year ago which is the third consecutive year of declining Fuse lengths during the first half of the year.

The CPG sector remains the largest user of FSI pages with a 74.1 percent share, followed by direct response, which includes general advertising activity, and franchise, comprised of restaurants, portrait studios, and other businesses. CPG had the largest percent decrease; down 2.4 percent to more than 82.6 billion pages, while franchise reported the only increase, up 1.6 percent to more than 10.2 billion pages. Direct response continued to decline in number of pages, down 2.3 percent to 18.5 billion.

Retailer promotion pages increased 27.3 percent to more than 8.4 billion pages in the first half of 2011. While the number of retail banners declined slightly, the number of active manufacturers that participated in retail promotion events increased 38.9 percent to 293 in 2011. Retailers from mass (Walmart, Target), value (Dollar General, Family Dollar), drug (Walgreen’s, CVS) and pet specialty (PetSmart, Petco) comprised the top eight positions. Kroger and Publix were the leading food retailers and were ranked ninth and 10th, respectively.

Walmart has overtaken Target for the top spot based on number of pages circulated with an increase of 1,488% to 1.4 billion pages which was the largest actual among the top 20 retailers. Target had the largest actual decline in pages circulated among the top 20, down 19 percent in the first half of 2011, dropping to the No. 3 spot behind Walmart and Dollar General. BJ’s Wholesale Club went from a rank of 82 in the first half of 2010 to a rank of 21 in the first half of 2011, which was the largest leap in rank among all retailers. Walgreens and CVS Pharmacy also reported large increases in pages circulated, up 38.2 percent and 60.6 percent, respectively. These trends reflect the overall growth of retailer promotion within traditional FSI vehicles to drive trips, transactions, and profits across channels and retail formats.

During the first half of 2011, there were 132 new products that delivered FSI coupons compared to 196 new products during the same period in 2010. Event dates also declined from 308 during the first half to 2010 to 208 during the first half of 2011; however, event dates per new product remained flat at 1.6. The beverages category led with 11 new products, followed by cereals with 10 new products and alcoholic beverages with 9 new products.

In the first half of 2011, non-food categories distributed more than 87.9 billion coupons, down 4.4 percent versus the same time period in 2010, while Food categories distributed 61.9 billion coupons, representing a decrease of 3.3 percent. Dry grocery and health care reported the only increases, up 3.5 and 2.2 percent respectively.

Additionally, manufacturers are increasing the value of the offers that are being delivered to consumers in both the non-food and food segments. Weighted average face value (WAFV) for non-food increased 5.0 percent to $1.96 and was combined with a 1.7 point increase in multiple purchase requirements (MPR) resulting in WAFV per unit increasing 3.4 percent to $1.70. WAFV for food increased 5.4 percent to $1.04 and was combined with a 1.5 point increase in MPR resulting in WAFVPU increasing 4.3 percent to 77 cents.

The top 10 product types based on coupons dropped accounted for 36.3 percent of all FSI coupon activity during the first half of 2011. Pet food and treats products ranked first and increased 11.2 percent to distribute more than 8.6 billion coupons. Combination/personal products moved to second place with a 14.1 percent decrease to 7.1 billion coupons. Shaving cream/razors moved into the top 10 having jumped from a rank of 13 to 8 with a 14.8 percent increase to 3.7 billion coupons.

Kantar Media companies track more than 3 million brands and provide vital market intelligence to 16,000 customers around the world.