• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, October 31, 2014

According to a new survey by Retale and Placed, looking at the shopping behaviors and preferences of more than 11,000 mobile users, the traditional marketing-friendly format of paper circulars is enjoying a second life in digital media, with 77% who’ve used a paper circular wanting to migrate to digital versions.

A few other key findings include:

• Only 23% would prefer to stick with a traditional paper circular
• 74% have looked at a retail circular via mobile over the last 30 days
• 82% use circulars to plan shopping trips before heading out to stores
• 33% want mobile apps that aggregate ads from multiple retailers

 And, the report points out that, of the 74% of mobile users who have read retail circulars in last 30 days, 56% of circular views have come from digital format, and 82% report they use circulars to plan shopping trips before heading out to stores.

Among those not using a circular in the last 30 days, but saying they will use one in the future, 60% prefer to use a digital one. Even among those respondent who reported not having used a circular in the previous 30 days, 85% plan to use one in the future.

Also, when asked which things people browse for online then buy in-store, consumer electronics was in first (59%), followed by apparel (38%), appliances (31%), groceries (24%), and crafts/furniture (22%).

The activities that shoppers report on digital circulars are similar to those long-held truths in the paper world, says the report. Among those who currently access digital circulars, almost 82% report they do so to plan shopping trips before heading out to the stores. Only 13% say that they access digital circulars while actually in a store implying that digital circular use has the power to catalyze a store visit just like it’s paper ancestor. 

David Shim, Founder and CEO at Placed, concludes that  “… the ability to measure online behaviors… and map them to offline actions… is changing the way retail attributes value to digital…”

And, relating circulars to the holiday shopping season, the report notes that:

Shoppers that use digital circulars are more likely to plan to spend more during this holiday season compared to last year

• 30% of panelists that reported that they use their smartphone or tablet to browse digital shopping circulars before shopping also stated that they plan to spend more on holiday shopping this year vs. last year  Meanwhile 27% of all panelists reported that they plan to spend more on holiday shopping year vs. last year
• Of those that reported using a digital shopping circular (app or web) in the past 30 days, over 32% reported that they plan to spend more during the holiday season

The main reason that people prefer to use a mobile app that aggregates multiple shopping circulars over individual brand circulars is convenience

• Of those that have not used an app that aggregates circulars in the past 30 days, 47% said that they would prefer to use an aggregation app in the future because “It’s convenient to have these circulars in one place”

Of those that responded that they have used a digital circular in the past 30 days, 79.4% plan to spend more or the same this holiday season compared to last year, vs. 74.2% that did not use a digital circular.

• Of those that responded that they have used a digital circular in the past 30 days, 29.9% plan to spend more this holiday season compared to last year, vs. 23.6% that did not use a digital circular.

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