Commentary

Non-Food FSIs Up 8% in First Half of 2014

According to new data from Kantar Media, free standing insert (FSI) coupon activity increased 3.4% based on coupons dropped during the first six months of 2014, versus the same time period in 2013. FSI coupons within Non-Food categories increased 8.2% to represent 65% of the 158 billion FSI coupons distributed during this period.

US Free Standing Insert Activity (1st Half, 2014; % Change Y-O-Y)

 

$ in Billions

% Change Y-O-Y

Dollars Circulated

$267

+8%

Avg. Face Value

1.69

+4.5

Coupons dropped

158B

+3.4

Pages distributed

114B

+1.4

Fuse (weeks)

7.0

-2.4%

Source: KantarMedia US, July 2014

Dan Kitrell, Vice President Account Solutions at Marx, says that  “… increases in FSI coupon activity within the Non-Food segment… driven by the Health Care and the Personal Care areas… leveraging FSI coupons… effectively delivering advertising impact, purchase incentives and retailer merchandising… part of this increase is related to… multiple page corporate scale themed FSI coupon events… breaking through promotion clutter with shoppers… creating larger merchandising opportunities with retailers…” explained Kitrell.

During the first six months of 2014, Food categories distributed 55.9 billion coupons, a decrease of 3.9%, with the Refrigerated Foods area reporting the largest actual decrease. However, as FSI coupon events decrease in Refrigerated Foods, remaining events will stand out, says the report.

Kitrell said, “… decreases in FSI coupon activity within the Refrigerated Foods area may reflect unique challenges for these categories including securing incremental in-store display support, avoiding out of stocks on the shelf, and aligning with the shopper’s limited ability to stock up during promotions… “

The study found that manufacturers increased the value of FSI coupon offers while decreasing the number of weeks available to redeem the offer in both the Non-Food and Food segments, says the report. Weighted Average Face Value (WAFV) for Non-Food increased 0.8% to $1.99 while WAFV for Food increased 9.8% to $1.13.  Average Expiration (weeks) decreased 2.0% to 6.3 weeks for Non-Food categories and decreased 1.3% to 8.2 weeks for Food categories.

During the first half of 2014, more than $267 billion in consumer incentives were delivered via FSI coupons, up 8.0% from the same period in 2013.  During the period, more than 158 billion coupons were distributed within more than 114 billion FSI pages.  FSI coupon Average Face Value increased 4.5% to $1.69 for the first half 2014. Average Expiration (Fuse) decreased 2.4% to 7.0 weeks, which is the seventh consecutive year of declining Expiration lengths during the first half of the year.  

Retailer promotion pages increased 26.8% to more than 14.5 billion pages in the first half of 2014, among the top 10 retailers.  The number of manufacturers participating in retailer promotions increased from 236 in the first half of 2013 to 335 during the first half of 2014.  The number of retailers also increased during the first six months of the year from 107 in 2013 to 125 in 2014. Walmart continued to hold the top spot based on number of Pages Circulated with an increase of 45.9% to more than 5.2 billion pages. 

For additional information, please visit the press room at Kantar Media here.  

 

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