Special Report: Digital Circulars

In an effort to provide personalized offers and a seamless omnichannel shopping experience, retailers are pushing the boundaries with their digital circulars.Not constrained by the conventions of the traditional print circular, digital circulars are enabling retailers to change how the content is presented and even break it apart. “We can now gather a lot of content and narrow it down to what an individual is specifically interested in,” says Brad Robertson, SVP, marketing solutions, MyWebGrocer. “It’s about building one-to-one conversations with shoppers.”Retailers are trying to keep up with shoppers who are increasingly likely to browse and search for products on smartphones and tablets and who expect a seamless experience from their desktops and mobile devices, across social networks, and into the store.“It’s less about things that have form and shape and a legacy definition, like the print circular, and more about the promise of the agility and flexibility of content,” says Mark Marinacci, president, ShopLocal. “Each of the pieces that go into the circular is highly curated and can potentially be expressed and shared in different ways.”CVS/pharmacy’s myWeeklyAd, a tailored version of the drug chain’s weekly print circular that launched in September 2013, has been touted by The New York Times as a “big step forward” in the digital circular space. (MyWeeklyAd was featured in the January issue of Shopper Marketing.)Major retailers including Kroger, Target and Walmart are also making advances, some with the help of solution providers such as Winooski, Vt.-based MyWebGrocer, which provides 140 chains with online grocery tools including digital circulars, e-commerce, mobile and social apps; and Chicago-based ShopLocal, which provides interactive digital circulars and display advertising options for retailers including Walgreens, Staples and ShopRite, among others.There is still a long way to go, says Marinacci. “I think the pieces are there, but the synthesis of those elements – connecting all of the systems, from the supplier side to the retailer content – remains the challenge both for those who seek out the solution and those who provide it.“But the outcome becomes somewhat inevitable if you think about the consumer experience. The expectation now is that it will be personal, relevant and omnichannel.”Consumers no longer have to wait for weekly print circulars to arrive with the Sunday newspaper. Instead, they share coupons through social networks, compare prices on their smartphones, buy discounted products online, and get recommendations from Facebook.Retailers have realized they need to adjust the way they connect with consumers, Robertson says. “Traditionally, most retailers have been focused on the once-a-week conversation with consumers through the circular. We’re starting to turn that around and say, ‘Let’s think about digital first and how a consumer might want to have multiple conversations, maybe in the same day.’ We’re saying, ‘How do we help consumers have more experiences with retailers they want to hear from?’”Here is an overview of how some major retailers are evolving with digital circulars:Kroger: MyWebGrocer’s technology powers Kroger’s digital solutions, which allow members of the company’s highly successful loyalty programs to click on an item in their local weekly and Sunday digital ads and add it to a shopping list – the interface actually circles the item and a pop-up allows shoppers to view details. On Kroger’s mobile app, a shopper can also download coupons, renew prescriptions, view fuel rewards points and receive personalized offers based on their purchases.Target: Target took a big step toward a new consumer conversation that truly integrates retail, mobile and social with its Cartwheel app, which debuted in beta last May. By signing in through Facebook or email, consumers can add offers to the Cartwheel list; share shopping choices with Facebook friends (or keep the list private); display the Cartwheel bar code at checkout; and automatically save on the entire list with one scan. There are also gamification aspects where shoppers can earn achievement badges. According to the company, Cartwheel is meant to be “like a sale that follows you around” when, where and how the shopper wants.While some experts have questioned the clarity of the app and whether consumers will want to share their shopping activity for, say, eggs and milk, Cartwheel “offers another road to take the digital circular in a whole new direction,” says Steve Frenda, managing director, strategy and development, Path to Purchase Institute. “The relationship with Facebook is provocative; and yet it’s not that different from a circular – it is still produced by the retailer.”Staples: Staples, says Marinacci, offers a prime example of a total reimagination of what weekly ad content should look like. The office supply retailer relaunched its e-commerce site last year and worked to determine how its digital circular should look in a post-Groupon world. Shoppers can now search the entire Staples circular; browse by category or by page, and easily see how many deals are available in each category. There are also daily deals, and consumers can subscribe to get deals sent directly by email.“Staples also offers a lot more content, more than 300 different deals,” says Marinacci. “It’s about showcasing more products than might fit in a traditional print piece to satisfy more consumers with diverse needs – but also changing how it is presented and shared.”Walmart: The world’s largest bricks-and-mortar retailer could not be left behind in the dust-up for digital circular leadership. Walmart is betting big on its mobile app, which encourages users to create a shopping list that automatically tallies, checks out and picks up a completed order in the store or has the order shipped to their door – no aisle-hopping required. Currently testing in select locations, the app automatically shifts to a “store mode” that provides easy access to a bar-code scanner, the weekly ad, new items and rollbacks.At a CTIA wireless industry trade show last year, Walmart global head of mobile Gibu Thomas said that the company’s mobile strategy is “as simple as it is audacious. We want to provide tools that are indispensable. … The customer controls what is optional vs. indispensable.”

Special Report: Digital Circulars

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