FSI offers totaled $496 billion in 2014, up 6.4%

JANUARY 8, 2015 | BY MICHAEL JOHNSEN

MINNEAPOLIS – Consumers were offered more than $496 billion dollars in consumer incentives through Free Standing Inserts in 2014, an increase of 6.4% compared to last year, according to a Kantar Media report released Thursday. As many as 285 billion coupons were dropped, down slightly by 0.5%, but the average face value was up 6.9% to $1.74. 

 

“Retailer pages increased for the eighth consecutive year, helping traditional brick-and-mortar retailers to engage shoppers while they are planning their shopping trips to a physical store instead of an online retailer. These brick-and-mortar retailers are taking advantage of the broad scale of consumers reached through the FSI with more than 70 million households touched on a specific Sunday,” stated David Hamric, general manager, Kantar Media Marx.  

 

Eight of the top ten retailers increased FSI Pages Circulated in 2014. The top ten represented 85.5% share of the total retail promotion pages distributed. Walmart retained the top spot with a 15.3% increase to 8.7 billion pages. Target continued to hold the second spot despite an 11.1% decrease to 4.2 billion pages and Walgreens maintained the third spot with a 1.8% decrease to 3.6 billion pages. 

 

Safeway had the largest change in rank within the top 10 having dropped two spots from 5 to 7. BJ’s is new to the top 10 in 2014. “BJ’s move into the top ten signals the importance of membership-based shopping. As more households look for savings through various channels, the club stores are an example of the changing habits of today’s shopper,” Hamric said.

 

The top 10 retailers (including the percent change of pages for 2014 vs. 2013) were:

 

1. Walmart (15.3%);
2. Target (-11.1%);
3. Walgreens (-1.8%);
4. Family Dollar (36.1%);
5. Dollar General (161.9%);
6. CVS/pharmacy (47.2%);
7. Safeway (20.3%);
8. Kroger (banner stores) (19.7%);
9. Vons (11.8%);
10. BJ's (26.5%).

CPG products accounted for the great majority of FSI pages distributed with a 76.6% share of total FSI pages and more than 155 billion pages distributed. Of those CPG pages, retailer promotions represented 16.5% of pages distributed. This is almost double the 8.3% share of pages retailer promotions held in 2010. Additionally, more manufacturers are being featured in Retailer Promotion within FSIs with an increase of 108 in 2014 to 447.

 

Non-food categories distributed more than 191 billion coupons, up 4.3% versus a year ago, driven by the 16.1% increase in health care and 3.4% increase in personal care areas. Food categories distributed more than 95 billion coupons, an 8.4% decrease from last year, led by the 22.8% decline for the refrigerated foods area. Non-Food categories increased the overall share of coupons dropped from 59% in 2010 to 67% in 2014.

 

Manufacturers are increasing the value of the offers being delivered to consumers in both the non-food and food segments. Weighted Average Face Value for non-food increased 3.7% to $2.04, which is the first recorded WAFV over $2 in Kantar Media’s recorded history. WAFV for food also increased 10.6% to $1.13, which is the first increase in WAFV for food products since 2011 and a jump of 13 cents over 2010 WAFV. 

 

“The increase in FSI coupon activity for non-food categories represents an opportunity for traditional brick-and-mortar retailers to increase their share of shoppers, trips and sales versus online retail competitors," commmented Lisa Ekstedt, director custom solutions at Kantar Media Marx. "As online retailers seek to engage shoppers through subscription-based replenishment and convenient home delivery options across key non-food segments like personal care, health care, household cleaning and paper products, brick-and-mortar retailers can take advantage of the billions of dollars of purchase incentives being distributed by leading brands in these categories. This will help them attract shoppers and increase sales by enabling promotion-responsive shoppers to easily redeem FSI coupons in their stores.”