Valassis Survey Reveals the Importance of Traditional Media in
Millennial Shopping Behaviors
LIVONIA, Mich., Dec. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Valassis
(NYSE: VCI), one of the nation's leading media and marketing
services companies, announced results from its recent Consumer
Print Usage Survey on Facebook®. Results indicate that while
digital is key with Millennial shoppers (ages 18-34), traditional
print media also plays an important role in the group's shopping
routines and are not only instrumental in decision-making, but
often serve as a catalyst to online shopping.
Valassis' Consumer Print Usage Survey revealed 91% of
Millennials who use newspaper inserts do so to save money, and 60%
said they would shop less without newspaper inserts. Newspaper
inserts guide Millennials prior to shopping in several ways: by
alerting them to sales (68%); driving them to purchase (51%);
reminding them of a need (46%); helping them decide where to buy
(35%); and alerting them of a product or service (26%). Survey
results also uncovered 30% of Millennial newspaper insert users go
online after seeing a product or service in a newspaper insert.
"While Millennials are clearly heavy digital users, learnings
from the survey reveal that they are still influenced by print,
including newspaper inserts," said Larry
Berg, Vice President and General Manager of Valassis
Solutions. "These findings indicate the powerful way
traditional print and digital media work together to drive
consumers from awareness to action as well as how the traditional
path to purchase has evolved and is no longer linear."
Findings from the survey speak to the power of print,
specifically insert advertising, and how Millennial consumers are
combining these advertisements with online searches along their
path to purchase. The survey also provides insights into Millennial
shopping behaviors and the role newspaper inserts play in the
shopping routines of this deal-seeking generation. The survey
platform was selected based on its history of heavy Millennial use
– 86% of Millennials visit Facebook every day.
In addition, the study also found that Millennial shoppers use
newspaper inserts when choosing restaurants, apparel, telecom
products and services and more:
- 87% of Millennials who use newspaper inserts utilize them
regularly or occasionally when selecting a restaurant;
- 84% of Millennials use inserts to find coupons or discounts
when shopping for apparel, and 71% use inserts to find the best
price; and
- 64% of Millennials who use newspaper inserts look to them when
making decisions on telecom products and services.
Valassis recently commissioned a whitepaper based on results
from Valassis' Consumer Print Usage Survey and other recent
Millennial data. The results presented in the whitepaper highlight
how newspaper inserts impact Millennial decision-making and how
they plan, shop, buy and share in order to achieve their savings
goals, supporting the importance of including traditional media
when crafting Millennial marketing strategies. For more information
and to download the whitepaper, visit
http://www.valassis.com/millennial-whitepaper-download.aspx.
About Valassis
Valassis is one of the nation's leading media and marketing
services companies, offering unparalleled reach and scale to more
than 15,000 advertisers. Its RedPlum® media portfolio delivers
value on a weekly basis to over 100 million shoppers across a
multi-media platform – in-home, in-store and in-motion. Through its
digital offerings, including redplum.com and save.com, consumers
can find compelling national and local deals. Headquartered in
Livonia, Michigan with
approximately 7,000 associates in 28 states and eight countries,
Valassis is widely recognized for its associate and corporate
citizenship programs, including its America's Looking for Its
Missing Children® program. Valassis companies include Valassis
Direct Mail, Inc., Valassis Canada, Promotion Watch, Valassis
Relationship Marketing Systems, LLC, NCH Marketing Services, Inc.
and Brand.net. For more information, visit www.valassis.com,
www.redplum.com and www.save.com. To learn about advertising
opportunities with RedPlum, please call 1-800-437-0479.
Valassis Cautionary Statements Regarding
Forward-looking Statements
This document contains "forward-looking statements" within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and
uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results,
performance or achievements to be materially different from any
future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by
such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among
others, the following: price competition from our existing
competitors; new competitors in any of our businesses; a shift in
client preferences for different promotional materials, strategies
or coupon delivery methods, including, without limitation, as a
result of declines in newspaper circulation and/or increased
competition from new media formats including digital; an unforeseen
increase in paper or postal costs; changes which affect the
businesses of our clients and lead to reduced sales promotion
spending, including, without limitation, a decrease of marketing
budgets which are generally discretionary in nature and easier to
reduce in the short-term than other expenses; our substantial
indebtedness, and ability to refinance such indebtedness, if
necessary, and our ability to incur additional indebtedness, may
affect our financial health; the financial condition, including
bankruptcies, of our clients, suppliers, senior secured credit
facility lenders or other counterparties; certain covenants in our
debt documents could adversely restrict our financial and operating
flexibility; fluctuations in the amount, timing, pages, weight and
kinds of advertising pieces from period to period, due to a change
in our clients' promotional needs, inventories and other factors,
including, without limitation, high levels of coupon redemption
rates; our failure to attract and retain qualified personnel may
affect our business and results of operations; a rise in interest
rates could increase our borrowing costs; possible governmental
regulation or litigation affecting aspects of our business; clients
experiencing financial difficulties, or otherwise being unable to
meet their obligations as they become due, could affect our results
of operations and financial condition; uncertainty in the
application and interpretation of applicable state sales tax laws
may expose us to additional sales tax liability; and general
economic conditions, whether nationally, internationally, or in the
market areas in which we conduct our business, including the
adverse impact of the ongoing economic downturn on the marketing
expenditures and activities of our clients and prospective clients
as well as our vendors, with whom we rely on to provide us with
quality materials at the right prices and in a timely manner. These
and other risks and uncertainties related to our business are
described in greater detail in our filings with the United States
Securities and Exchange Commission, including our reports on Forms
10-K and 10-Q and the foregoing information should be read in
conjunction with these filings. We disclaim any intention or
obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements,
whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise.
SOURCE Valassis