Print Still Ideal for Grocery Retailers

90% of grocery retailers say that they still use weekly circulars as the primary mode in promoting products to consumers, but they expect an increase in influence of social media and digital media in terms of promotion in the next 5 years. This is based on a study conducted by Stagnito Custom Media for Valassis, a leading media and marketing services company in the country. The survey gathered information from 60 grocery retail decision makers.

Media in Rank Order	Total (1=BEST)
Printed Weekly Circular via Newspaper	1.64
Printed Weekly Circular via Shared Mail	2.07
Direct Mail (Solo Mail)	2.54
Internet Display	4.12
Email	4.36
TV	4.43
Radio	4.55
Mobile/Cell/Smartphone	5.50

VP of Marketing intelligence Therese Mulvey said, “Print is still a big player in grocery. One of the reasons grocery retail marketers like it is that it's very measurable and they know exactly what it does. No one has really cracked the code on how to use digital.” 

Respondents ranked weekly circulars via newspaper as the primary means of marketing followed by weekly circular via shared mail, direct mail, internet display, email, TV, radio, and mobile. Mobile ranked the lowest in the survey.

"What’s great with print is that it can reach a huge and diverse number of people. With digital, although it’s targeted, it’s not wide-ranging.  Respondents, however, said that print will make up just 17% of retail grocery marketing within 5 years."