Surplus Furniture — Mobile Flyers!

For those of us with mobile phones, it’s not surprising to hear that mobile phones have overtaken desktop computers when it comes to web traffic. This stat certainly isn’t a surprise for retailers, who have watched their mobile web traffic increase month over month, year over year. Google has even responded by implementing harsher SEO rankings, favouring mobile-friendly websites. So how have companies responded to this changing landscape?

For most retailers, this means a duo world for advertising: print and mobile. Nielsen studies show 79% of households browse digital flyers and print flyers each week, so consumers are immersed in both. IKEA, for instance, has extended their flyer to mobile while maintaining the same print levels year over year. London Drugs has also transitioned to a mobile flyer while maintaining the same flyer quantities year over year. Surplus Furniture has followed suit, transitioning all printed media to the digital/mobile landscape.

What will the next three years look like? Retailers expect to see a dramatic shift, once the public becomes comfortable with the digital space. Retail giants like Canadian Tire still feel the printed flyer is “routine and a comfort” for consumers, citing an increase to their flyer printing over the years. Brandspark International stated that consumers find printed flyers easier to navigate and more time-efficient. Yet last year, shoppers consulting printed flyers were down 7%, while the mobile flyer had a 5% increase. One in four Canadians between 18 and 54 read more digital flyers than print flyers when compared to last year.

Top Digital Flyer Apps

  • Flipp: the leader in mobile flyers. Since November 2013, the app has had 15 million downloads. Flipp has 50 million weekly views, featuring 800 retailers in 140,000 locations. The local Toronto company recently announced going global with their app — a $61 million venture. With detailed product descriptions/linking, website plug-ins, and in-depth consumer analytics, it’s no wonder this app is leading the mobile charge.
  • Reebee: a great mobile flyer app that has seen 2 million downloads since 2013. The Reebee app allows retailers to engage the mobile customer while providing a robust analytics component, allowing retailers to target and refine their offers.
  • YP Shopwise: Yellow Pages has entered the mobile space with their own flyer app. It’s a robust mobile flyer app that draws from (and benefits from) the many Yellow Pages owned properties (Red Flag Deals and SmartCanucks). The app allows retailers to create business profiles, tap into Yellow Pages analytics, and take advantage of consumer-targeted tools.
  • Tiendeo: the biggest international mobile app, headquartered in Spain, currently has 62,000 active stores, 1,000 flyers, and over 700,000 users.
  • Save.ca: a Metroland product that started as a website allowing retailers to post their flyer digitally. It now has launched their new mobile version, allowing retailers to expand into the mobile space. The app is very robust, allowing retailers to tap into the Metroland properties with 2.8 million members nationally.

Cost & Benefits

So what are the costs and benefits for a retailer to advertise on mobile devices? Everyone knows print is expensive and time-consuming. To print and distribute a flyer with a local newspaper, the process could take several months to plan and prepare — not to mention the high cost associated with paper, printing, and distribution, and the environmental effects.

Mobile advertising is quick and relatively inexpensive. Once the flyer is designed, it could be uploaded and distributed on mobile devices within just a few days. The cost will vary depending on which mobile app you choose, but all are relatively inexpensive when compared to print. Some mobile apps are free to use, while others have a cost per engagement.

One of the biggest benefits for retailers are the consumer insights. For instance, on the Flipp app, retailers have access to view the postal codes of users viewing the flyer; they can also see what items users engaged with (or purchased), and they can see how many users had visited their location. Far superior than print data.

So has a mobile campaign been tested?

Absolutely. Results are key, so some forward-thinking retailers have already started to test the mobile/digital space. RONA, the Montreal-based company, decided to scrap their printed flyer for one week and did a nationwide digital test. This resulted in doubling their sales over the previous year, silencing the internal skeptics.

What will the advertising landscape look like in 10 years? 5 years? Print is still the easiest for the mass audience — flyers are dropped off at the door, and all the consumer needs to do is open the paper. Mobile takes some effort on the part of the consumer. If that hurdle can be overcome, then the tides may shift. It’s clear that mobile advertising is going to continue making great strides in the consumer’s day-to-day buying cycle, while increasing in the retailer’s budget.