Ralphs Discontinuing Traditional Printed Ads

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CalItalian
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Re: Ralphs Discontinuing Traditional Printed Ads

Post by CalItalian »

babs wrote:The era of the weekly printed ad may be ending quicker than you think. It's a huge expense for a retailer. Back in the 90s, I worked for a chain in the west where I directly worked on the ad. It cost us $1 million a week to produce, print and insert the circulars. Obviously it's only gone up from there. Today, the circulation of newspapers is about half of what it was 10 years ago. You are simply hitting a lot fewer people. Most younger people don't get the newspaper, so the ads are only reaching an older demographic.

I'm with you that when I walk into a grocery store, I grab the ad to look for the bargains. But I hate to tell you the age of the weekly newspaper circular is coming to an end. Digital is going to replace it, somehow. Every single retailer is trying to figure out what to do.
The ads have been snail-mailed for many years now. Supermarket newspaper advertising has pretty much been limited to a Sunday ad here or there (the Los Angeles Times discontinued the traditional Wednesday- at one time Thursday- Food Section many years ago). I see Sprouts in the Los Angeles Times most Sunday's but Ralphs only around the holidays. Albertsons/Vons not too often (on Sunday). I expect to see a Ralphs ad the Sunday before Easter.

In my area, I get ads for Pavilions, Sprouts, Bristol Farms, Gelsons and Smart & Final in the snail mail (normally bundled together with other non-grocery ads + Rite Aid on Tuesday). There are no Albertsons in my area anymore (since Haggen) and they no longer send a Vons ad (although I am equal distance to a Vons and Pavilions). And now no more Ralphs ad.

Although I have an excellent smartphone, a Note 5, when it gets down to the tiny details in these ads, it can get difficult to read. I really prefer having an ad in hand while in the store. But I am old school.

I am going to complain on Ralphs social media on Monday.
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Re: Ralphs Discontinuing Traditional Printed Ads

Post by BillyGr »

babs wrote:The era of the weekly printed ad may be ending quicker than you think. It's a huge expense for a retailer. Back in the 90s, I worked for a chain in the west where I directly worked on the ad. It cost us $1 million a week to produce, print and insert the circulars. Obviously it's only gone up from there. Today, the circulation of newspapers is about half of what it was 10 years ago. You are simply hitting a lot fewer people. Most younger people don't get the newspaper, so the ads are only reaching an older demographic.

I'm with you that when I walk into a grocery store, I grab the ad to look for the bargains. But I hate to tell you the age of the weekly newspaper circular is coming to an end. Digital is going to replace it, somehow. Every single retailer is trying to figure out what to do.
Seems like perhaps a middle point would be good, at least as a start?
Still have an ad, but don't send it out (paper or mail - that saves a lot of the costs). Have it available on a website (preferably a couple days in advance, for planning), then have a smaller number of copies in the stores. You take one when entering, then return it to the cashier when you finish shopping, and it gets returned to the entry for the next customer to see/use. That way you have it in case something doesn't ring up correctly or isn't marked on the shelf to refer to, but they save both costs and resources by printing a much smaller number total each week.
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Re: Ralphs Discontinuing Traditional Printed Ads

Post by kr.abs.swy »

No doubt that this will cost some sales, but it will also remove a huge expense. In the Northwest, the Fred Meyer ad in the Sunday paper sometimes has more pages than the entire Monday newspaper. I can't imagine how much it costs to send that out, but it's worth losing a few sales.

This could also be one of those situations where it just takes one competitor to make the first move, and then everyone else follows (like airline bag fees). It will be interesting to see the response. I thought that part of the rationale for Just4U was that it would make Safeway less reliant on printed ads. I can only imagine that they would much rather send some digital coupons to the customers who they know actually shop in their stores and not have to send an ad to everyone in the mail.

I can only imagine that of those massive Fred Meyer ads in the Sunday paper, a low single digit percentage actually even get opened, and even fewer result in a marginal shopping trip. When we lived in an apartment complex in Vegas, the Vons, Smart & Final and Smith's ads all came in the mail. I would see so many of those packages simply thrown away at the mail center without even a second glance. They are spending a lot of money on an ad that the majority of people throw straight in the trash.

We get a brochure full of coupons from Fred Meyer in the mail about once a month. They know that we make a major shopping trip every couple of weeks and mail us targeted coupons. Seems like a much more effective way to spend marketing dollars to me than blanketing the Sunday paper every week with ads that most people don't read.

I suspect that you will see a few competitors double down on ads to try to capitalize on Kroger's decision, but I suspect that you will see some others follow suit.
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Re: Ralphs Discontinuing Traditional Printed Ads

Post by babs »

kr.abs.swy wrote:No doubt that this will cost some sales, but it will also remove a huge expense. In the Northwest, the Fred Meyer ad in the Sunday paper sometimes has more pages than the entire Monday newspaper. I can't imagine how much it costs to send that out, but it's worth losing a few sales.

This could also be one of those situations where it just takes one competitor to make the first move, and then everyone else follows (like airline bag fees). It will be interesting to see the response. I thought that part of the rationale for Just4U was that it would make Safeway less reliant on printed ads. I can only imagine that they would much rather send some digital coupons to the customers who they know actually shop in their stores and not have to send an ad to everyone in the mail.

I can only imagine that of those massive Fred Meyer ads in the Sunday paper, a low single digit percentage actually even get opened, and even fewer result in a marginal shopping trip. When we lived in an apartment complex in Vegas, the Vons, Smart & Final and Smith's ads all came in the mail. I would see so many of those packages simply thrown away at the mail center without even a second glance. They are spending a lot of money on an ad that the majority of people throw straight in the trash.

We get a brochure full of coupons from Fred Meyer in the mail about once a month. They know that we make a major shopping trip every couple of weeks and mail us targeted coupons. Seems like a much more effective way to spend marketing dollars to me than blanketing the Sunday paper every week with ads that most people don't read.

I suspect that you will see a few competitors double down on ads to try to capitalize on Kroger's decision, but I suspect that you will see some others follow suit.
While I don't know Fred Meyer's actual numbers but based on my past experience in the industry, my suspicion is that Fred Meyer might be spending $2 million+ a week on design, printing and insertion fees for their weekly print ads. If you can cut that back and still keep most customers, that's either pure profit or reduced prices right there.
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Re: Ralphs Discontinuing Traditional Printed Ads

Post by pseudo3d »

babs wrote:
kr.abs.swy wrote:No doubt that this will cost some sales, but it will also remove a huge expense. In the Northwest, the Fred Meyer ad in the Sunday paper sometimes has more pages than the entire Monday newspaper. I can't imagine how much it costs to send that out, but it's worth losing a few sales.

This could also be one of those situations where it just takes one competitor to make the first move, and then everyone else follows (like airline bag fees). It will be interesting to see the response. I thought that part of the rationale for Just4U was that it would make Safeway less reliant on printed ads. I can only imagine that they would much rather send some digital coupons to the customers who they know actually shop in their stores and not have to send an ad to everyone in the mail.

I can only imagine that of those massive Fred Meyer ads in the Sunday paper, a low single digit percentage actually even get opened, and even fewer result in a marginal shopping trip. When we lived in an apartment complex in Vegas, the Vons, Smart & Final and Smith's ads all came in the mail. I would see so many of those packages simply thrown away at the mail center without even a second glance. They are spending a lot of money on an ad that the majority of people throw straight in the trash.

We get a brochure full of coupons from Fred Meyer in the mail about once a month. They know that we make a major shopping trip every couple of weeks and mail us targeted coupons. Seems like a much more effective way to spend marketing dollars to me than blanketing the Sunday paper every week with ads that most people don't read.

I suspect that you will see a few competitors double down on ads to try to capitalize on Kroger's decision, but I suspect that you will see some others follow suit.
While I don't know Fred Meyer's actual numbers but based on my past experience in the industry, my suspicion is that Fred Meyer might be spending $2 million+ a week on design, printing and insertion fees for their weekly print ads. If you can cut that back and still keep most customers, that's either pure profit or reduced prices right there.
Unless you have really good word of mouth or you have the lowest prices in town consistently, you're not going to do much without advertising. Albertsons/Safeway rarely advertises on TV anymore (I've heard radio ads but never TV, though some divisions have put out some TV ads recently). Not everyone wants to read an advertisement on a tablet while shopping either. We'll see how it goes for Ralphs in a year, but my gut reaction is that they've done their competitors a favor.
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Re: Ralphs Discontinuing Traditional Printed Ads

Post by arizonaguy »

pseudo3d wrote:
babs wrote:
kr.abs.swy wrote:No doubt that this will cost some sales, but it will also remove a huge expense. In the Northwest, the Fred Meyer ad in the Sunday paper sometimes has more pages than the entire Monday newspaper. I can't imagine how much it costs to send that out, but it's worth losing a few sales.

This could also be one of those situations where it just takes one competitor to make the first move, and then everyone else follows (like airline bag fees). It will be interesting to see the response. I thought that part of the rationale for Just4U was that it would make Safeway less reliant on printed ads. I can only imagine that they would much rather send some digital coupons to the customers who they know actually shop in their stores and not have to send an ad to everyone in the mail.

I can only imagine that of those massive Fred Meyer ads in the Sunday paper, a low single digit percentage actually even get opened, and even fewer result in a marginal shopping trip. When we lived in an apartment complex in Vegas, the Vons, Smart & Final and Smith's ads all came in the mail. I would see so many of those packages simply thrown away at the mail center without even a second glance. They are spending a lot of money on an ad that the majority of people throw straight in the trash.

We get a brochure full of coupons from Fred Meyer in the mail about once a month. They know that we make a major shopping trip every couple of weeks and mail us targeted coupons. Seems like a much more effective way to spend marketing dollars to me than blanketing the Sunday paper every week with ads that most people don't read.

I suspect that you will see a few competitors double down on ads to try to capitalize on Kroger's decision, but I suspect that you will see some others follow suit.
While I don't know Fred Meyer's actual numbers but based on my past experience in the industry, my suspicion is that Fred Meyer might be spending $2 million+ a week on design, printing and insertion fees for their weekly print ads. If you can cut that back and still keep most customers, that's either pure profit or reduced prices right there.
Unless you have really good word of mouth or you have the lowest prices in town consistently, you're not going to do much without advertising. Albertsons/Safeway rarely advertises on TV anymore (I've heard radio ads but never TV, though some divisions have put out some TV ads recently). Not everyone wants to read an advertisement on a tablet while shopping either. We'll see how it goes for Ralphs in a year, but my gut reaction is that they've done their competitors a favor.
Fry's in Arizona must have one of the largest marketing budgets of any Kroger division. They have TV ads, radio ads, billboards, snail mail flyers, newspaper flyers, and sponsor almost every event in town. I can't imagine them going this "paperless" route but if it's a corporate directive, I think it would greatly hurt business (especially as all of the major competitors use print ads).
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Re: Ralphs Discontinuing Traditional Printed Ads

Post by klkla »

The ads might cost $2 million to create and publish but keep in mind that every name brand product that appears in their ads PAID to be there. I know that these fees are more than enough to cover the cost of production for some companies.

The bigger issue is probably that Ralphs doesn't think they can cut through the clutter and make an impact with print ads anymore. They have made a huge investment in digital technology over the last couple years and are probably doing this as a test to see what impact print ads really have. If it's negative they can always start running the ads again.
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Re: Ralphs Discontinuing Traditional Printed Ads

Post by storewanderer »

Some other factors to think about: the print ads often sit by the door and frequently fall on the floor, are left in carts, or in the parking lot, etc. All of that creates clutter and takes labor to clean up. I am sure whoever proposed cutting the print ads looked at these factors. I know some stores keep their ads somewhat guarded, but available when you ask for one at customer service, to avoid this problem. Target comes to mind.

Also I think it is pretty common for most stores to have a nice stack of print ads remaining at the end of the week. Into the trash or recycling those go, a waste of paper and ink.

I would actually be wondering what the brands think about this. If I am a brand looking to advertise my product and pay for ad space, am I going to go for the Ralphs ad that is not circulated at every location anymore, or am I going to go for the Vons/Albertsons or Stater ad that is still being circulated at every store? If I am a brand running a national promotion and I give Kroger a break on my product and pay for ad space to be featured in their ad nationwide, how will I feel that there is no ad being issued anymore in a block of stores in densely populated areas of Los Angeles?

"Go green" and send sales running away.
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Re: Ralphs Discontinuing Traditional Printed Ads

Post by klkla »

storewanderer wrote:I would actually be wondering what the brands think about this. If I am a brand looking to advertise my product and pay for ad space, am I going to go for the Ralphs ad that is not circulated at every location anymore, or am I going to go for the Vons/Albertsons or Stater ad that is still being circulated at every store? If I am a brand running a national promotion and I give Kroger a break on my product and pay for ad space to be featured in their ad nationwide, how will I feel that there is no ad being issued anymore in a block of stores in densely populated areas of Los Angeles?
In this case Kroger is probably going to offer to send your coupons or print instant coupons for customers that are buying your competitor's products. Or based on the customer's purchasing habits promote your product as an appropriate cross-sell through digital media.

The vendors will still be paying allowances for being in the online ad, as well.
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Re: Ralphs Discontinuing Traditional Printed Ads

Post by CalItalian »

Here's a few more observations over the last few days:

Ad disappears from the app and website at 9 PM Tuesday night. This is nothing new but how am I supposed to access an ad between 9 & Midnight on Tuesday?

I've been in a few Ralphs where I can either not get a signal at all or it's 3G and slow as heck on my smartphone. It's maddening trying to get anywhere on the Ralphs app.

After 2 weeks, a shortened version of the Ralphs ad is back in stores. I noticed on Wednesday but I wanted to go to some Ralphs in a wider area to see if it was the same as my home store. It is BUT instead of a duplicate of the 6-page online ad, it's a 4-page ad without all the same sale items. I don't get it. Why have a different slimmed down ad in store?
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