Value of printed advertising inserts to drive retail sales reaffirmed

Retail advertisers can rest assured that sales success will follow the use of advertising inserts. The results of the recently released Publisher Research Council (PRC) Publisher Audience Measurement Survey (Pams 2019) into consumers’ use of published media is unequivocal: Advertising inserts are an integral part of shopping.

Pams 2019 covers 15 520 residents across 233 municipalities in South Africa. In a ground-breaking first for media research, this extensive survey ensures accurate measurement of consumer behaviour across multiple print and digital reading platforms. Advertising media decisions makers can, therefore, trust the data from Pams 2019. They can use this data to reach high quality, effective research-based advertising placement conclusions.

Of particular interest to retailers and their media agencies is the behaviour of consumer decision-makers when it comes to printed advertising inserts and leaflets. Pams 2019 proves that advertising inserts are a useful tool for consumers to help them along their purchasing journey.

Specifically, the behaviour of South African shoppers is influenced by advertising inserts in the following ways:

• Comparing prices: 61% of consumers do this
• Plan shopping: 53%
• Buy products as a result of seeing them in an insert: 33%
• Glance or page through inserts to see if anything is of interest: 33%
• Don’t look at them: 12%

PRC research consultant Peter Langschmidt is excited by the value of Pams 2019 data to enable appropriate media decision making. “Sometimes advertisers are confronted by so many different avenues for their advertising rand that they perhaps don’t know where to turn to for real effectiveness. Now, with the help of Pams 2019, they know that advertising via printed inserts leads directly to retail sales results.

The high percentage of consumers who compare prices in inserts and use them to plan their shopping provides indisputable proof that this high-performance medium delivers guaranteed results when it comes to retail sales.

Advertising inserts are often delivered to consumers via their trusted local newspaper. The close relationship between consumers and their local paper is something advertisers can use effectively to translate into sales, especially for retailers that deploy advertising inserts in a geographically localised manner.

PRC CEO Josephine Buys agrees that Pams 2019 provides clear evidence that advertising inserts deliver sales results. “It is truly remarkable that no less than a third of all consumers say they will buy a product as a direct result of seeing it in an advertising insert.

The retail sales power of advertising inserts has been demonstrated practically over the decades, and now Pams 2019 reaffirms this reality once again.