Nielsen: Shoppers Prefer Print Ads for Sales and Promotions
Consumer Attitudes
July 5, 2011 -- New research from Nielsen examining the benefits of print and digital inserts and other forms of retail advertising were presented at the Nielsen's U.S. Consumer 360 Conference. Research findings shared:
Shoppers Prefer Print
Close to 70% percent of shoppers from a recent Nielsen survey say they look at printed paper material either mailed to the home (67%) or in newspapers (69%) at least once per week in their quest for sales and promotions.
The only digital tactic that matches printed paper’s weekly reach is email (67%). Far fewer people are looking to sales and product information from digital methods like social media sites (45%) or from smart or mobile phones (39%). Nielsen states that while consumers prefer print, the weekly usage conversion rates from digital are strong.
Shoppers Want Print and Digital In the Future
Nearly 90% of consumers say they want their print advertising in the future, more than 70% want email and traditional websites, and about one-third are interested in social and smartphone advertising applications.
| How Shoppers Want to Receive Advertisements in the Future | |
| Direct Mail | 87% |
| Newspapers | 86% |
| In-store print advertising | 86% |
| Store websites | 75% |
| Email from retailers | 72% |
| Store website using tablet | 59% |
| In-store kiosks | 43% |
| Televisions in stores | 42% |
| Social media site | 37% |
| Smart phone or mobile phone | 31% |
| % = "A lot or Somewhat" Source: Nielsen, Consumer 360 presentation | |
Print and Digital Challenges Facing the Retailer
Nielsen goes on to say this about the challenges facing print and digital advertising, "Today, printed circular response promotion lifts are less effective than five years ago, delivering about a 20 percent return on investment in 2010, compared to a 28 percent boost in 2005," and, "For many brick and mortar retailers, figuring out how to effectively draw people to online offerings and then determining what contribution online efforts are having to offline sales is a challenge. In fact, few of these retailers get more than 20 percent of store shoppers to visit their site, despite the fact that the majority of shoppers spend 25 hours per week online." View Nielsen's recommendations for optimizing the marketing mix.
Source: NielsenWire, Browse All About It! The Evolution of the Circular, July 5, 2011.
