Print Coupons Still Popular with Shoppers
There is a rumor floating around that a large grocery chain in Iowa abandoned a major market newspaper to mail circulars to households. Instead of relying on the newspaper delivery, the chain is using direct mail. 
This chart shows why getting printed coupons or circulars into the home is critical to the success of selling grocery items.
According to eMarketer, “grocery shoppers scan a number of channels to find the best way to save a buck or two. And while digital is a big component of how they find and research deals, many still take the traditional route of circulars.”
We are still in a huge transitional bowl of options with traditional print vs digital, but the shift is still happening, although not as fast as some would have everyone believing.
Remember, it took decades for cars to take over from horses, but the horse business is still a $39 billion dollar industry in the US and there are now more than 9 million horses. That’s more horses now than at any time in the good old days.
No matter what you hear about one industry killing off another, the marketing mix strategy is still the right recipe for a strong marketing effort.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle. After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant. He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.” Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.” One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College. Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board. Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.
