After OBI and REWE have taken the bold step and decided to forgo the classic printed advertising prospect as a central advertising medium, Fressnapf also follows as another retail company.
 
Deutsche Post has discontinued the weekly advertising broadcast "Einkauf aktuell" since April 2024. These prospect bundles have reliably appeared in the mailboxes of up to 18 million German households for a good 21 years.
 
The reasons: More and more advertising refusers (stickers on the mailbox), but also the topic of sustainability. According to its own information, REWE alone saves more than 73,000 tons of paper, 70,000 tons of CO2, 1.1 million tons of water, and 380 million kWh of energy per year by switching from print (100 million flyers per month) to digital. Impressive numbers. 

The environmental aspect is important, but economically, for many retail companies, forgoing paper prospects is also sensible. Production costs have multiplied in recent years. And that's for a prospect that must first stand out from the mass of mailings and often contains offers that, due to inflexible distribution areas and the associated scattergun distribution, are not individually interesting.

In Luxembourg, explicit permission from residents is now required if they still want to receive advertising in their mailbox. It is obvious that this is hardly manageable in scatter plans.

And yet:

According to a recent study by the Institute for Retail Research, 79% of survey participants still use the printed prospect as their preferred medium for researching offers. The rule is: The older the customers, the greater the affinity for print products.

At the same time, the proportion of those who also use online offers has increased by 7% within a year.

Advertising budgets are increasingly being invested in digital communication/display advertising.

The trend is towards companies' own apps or the use of prospect apps such as Bring, kaufDa, meinProspekt, or marktguru. The latter often come with practical gimmicks like interactive shopping lists and inspirational content like recipes, ideas, and life hacks.

However, provider apps, in particular, belong to the future. Already, 35% of study respondents stated they use the apps weekly.

For consumers, this creates real added value: All offers always at hand on the smartphone, and the shopping list quickly ordered and completed with a click. Frequently bought favorite products are automatically displayed via reminder function.

For retail companies, this clearly strengthens the brand, as they can present themselves outside of the direct competitive environment of mailbox prospects. Once the app is on the phone, it also contributes to customer loyalty.

EPS, as part of the BREITETIEFE collective, creates digital prospects for the customer Fressnapf in addition to the print flyer and recently conceived a print-exit campaign for the transition from print to digital. Customers were informed early on about the Fressnapf app and its advantages © oriented at the "Friends" function as a strong loyalty program with permanent discount benefits.

Is print then medium- to long-term doomed to extinction?

Clearly: No.
 
Although addressed dispatch of advertising prospects to households as an alternative to anonymous mailings is not particularly attractive in terms of price, there are now technologies that not only allow individual customization of print advertising but also make them personalized and thus very personal.
 
Programmatic Printing is, for example, an answer. Here, customer-personalized product recommendations are developed, which can be used very precisely using a mix of customer database, geomarketing, and predefined personas (e.g., personal postcards or flyers).
 
For addressed advertising mail must be delivered – even if the well-known "No Thanks" sticker on the mailbox indicates otherwise.

The different needs and preferences of customers require a well-thought-out and geographically differentiated media mix from all meaningful communication disciplines. In the end, time and money are well-invested in precise analysis, as it can avoid huge distribution losses and largely compensate for the weaknesses of print prospects.

At BREITETIEFE, we are happy to develop the perfect solution together with you.

We analyze your situation, your target group, and find the suitable channels for your offers and services.