FSI Activity Wanes in 2012
Free standing insert (FSI) coupon activity decreased 1.2 percent during the first half of 2012 compared to the same time period a year ago according to Marx, a Kantar Media subsidiary.
During the first half of 2012, FSI coupons in Sunday newspapers delivered more than $227 billion in consumer incentives, down 4.3 percent from the same period in 2011. During that time, 111 billion FSI pages distributed more than 148 billion coupons.
“FSI coupons continue to be an effective advertising vehicle for brand marketers and retailers to reach shoppers in the home where they are writing shopping lists and planning shopping trips,” said David Hamric, general manager at Marx. “As FSI coupon redemption rates have increased, manufacturers are reducing their financial exposure by distributing fewer coupons at lower face values and shorter expiration periods.”
The CPG sector remains the largest FSI page user with a 74.3 percent share. Direct Response had the largest percent decrease, down 6.8 percent to more than 17.3 billion pages, while Franchise reported a 9.5 percent increase to 11.2 billion pages.
Retailer promotion activity continued to grow with a 1.2 percent increase to 9.3 billion pages in the first half of 2012, while six of the top 10 retailers increased retail page circulation versus the same period a year ago.
“Retailers may gain a competitive advantage by participating in retailer FSI promotions to capture a greater share of shopping trips among households that use coupons,” said Hamric. “For consumers, coupons are a proven way to save money on a specific item. For retailers, coupons can increase the overall retail value of each shopping trip by adding more items to the shopping basket and increasing the budget by the value of the coupons.”
Hamric concludes that FSI coupon vehicles offer a significant impact in terms of advertising and retail merchandising based upon the millions of households they reach on a given day.
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