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Kroger takes on Wal-Mart in Ohio with Marketplace stores

By Jason Sanford On May 14, 2013 · Add Comment

It’s just a few paragraphs in an 87-page financial report, but in the annual 10-K document that the Kroger Co. filed on April 2 with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the fierce battle for market share that the Cincinnati-based retailer is waging with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. practically jumps off the page.

“Based on Nielsen Homescan Data, our estimated market share increased in total by approximately 20 basis points in 2012 across our 19 marketing areas outlined by the Nielsen report. … Wal-Mart Supercenters are a primary competitor in 17 of these 19 marketing areas. In these 17 marketing areas, our market share increased in nine and declined in eight,” the report states.

Kroger is the dominant supermarket chain in the Toledo area. Wal-Mart is the nation’s No. 1 retailer.

Wal-Mart has been muscling in on Kroger’s supermarket turf since 1988, when the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer began developing its Walmart supercenters, which carry a full line of groceries. In the Toledo area, Wal-Mart added groceries to its stores in 2006.

The addition of groceries pushed Wal-Mart further into the concept of “hypermarkets” — a format that combines a supermarket and a department store. In theory, it gives customers a one-stop shopping experience — and it gave Wal-Mart a significant advantage over pure supermarket chains such as Kroger, Aldi, Safeway, and SuperValu.

But Kroger, which learned a thing or two about hypermarkets after acquiring the consummate hypermarket chain Fred Meyer stores in 1998, has not been idle while Wal-Mart stocks up on groceries.

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Automakers grow adept at targeting ads to Internet surfers

By Jason Sanford On May 14, 2013 · Add Comment

From Automotive News

The digital age has spawned effective ways for auto marketers to swipe customers from competitors.

By monitoring the online shopping habits of millions of consumers, marketers can place online ads in front of shoppers quickly and precisely.

"If you go to Edmunds and shop for a RAV4, and then you go to Sports Illustrated, I can hit you with an ad on Sports Illustrated for the Tiguan two hours later," says Kevin Mayer, vice president of marketing for Volkswagen of America.

He says an online campaign designed to win over Toyota RAV4 shoppers for the VW Tiguan compact crossover helped boost the Tiguan's February sales 20 percent from January.

Online research traffic for the RAV4 spiked after Toyota's Super Bowl campaign for the vehicle. To capitalize on that surge, VW ran conquest ads for the Tiguan that targeted users who had researched the RAV4, Mayer says.

Mayer and other auto marketers have taken advantage of the digital data trail most Internet users leave on the Web.

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As TV ratings and profits fall, networks face a cliffhanger

On May 13, 2013 By Jason Sanford

From The New York Times

As the major television networks prepare to unveil their new fall lineups in New York this week, they face threats from seemingly every corner.

Prime-time ratings for the Big Four broadcasters — ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox — together are dropping more precipitously than ever. Even their biggest hits, like “American Idol” and “Dancing With the Stars,” are fading fast. Advertisers are moving more cash to cable, cutting into the networks’ quarterly profits. New technologies are making it easier to skip those ads, anyway.

That’s not all: there are more outlets for programming cropping up all the time, with Netflix and Amazon and dozens of cable channels competing for actors, producers and, most important, viewers. Government regulators want to take back some of the spectrum allotted to local television stations. And start-ups like Aereo are threatening to deprive the stations of subscription revenue, causing some broadcasters to talk of options that were unthinkable a few short years ago. Some have warned they might go off the air entirely.

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Email open rates average 19.7% last year

On May 9, 2013 By Jason Sanford

From B to B Online

Email marketers experienced an average open rate of 19.7% last year, although top-performing companies had an open rate almost twice as high, a report from email marketing services provider Silverpop found.

According to Silverpop's “2013 Email Marketing Benchmark Study: An Analysis of Messages Sent Q1-Q2 2012,” the companies in the top quartile of the study experienced average unique email open rates—defined as one open per recipient—of 35.7%. Average top-quartile open rates were similar to this throughout the U.S., Canada and the Europe/Middle East/Africa regions, but hit 44.6% among best-performing email marketers in the Asia-Pacific region.

By industry, educational organizations experienced the highest average email open rate, at 26.2%, followed by consumer products (23.8%), financial services (22.0%) and computer software (21.4%) companies. For its study, Silverpop analyzed email of all types sent by 2,787 of client companies in 40 countries.

Target teams up with Facebook

On May 9, 2013 By Jason Sanford

From Ad Age

Target is looking to Facebook to drive more foot-traffic in stores. The retailer is launching 700 new offers this week with a social twist: claiming them generates automatic Newsfeed posts on Facebook, unless the user turns them off.

The deals, eventually expected to balloon to about 1,000, are part of the retailer's new digital savings program, built with Facebook and dubbed Cartwheel. The program, with the tagline "A whole new spin on saving," launches in beta mode on Wednesday and gives consumers the opportunity to curate and share deals with friends, as well as redeem deals in store.

For now, the deals will be limited to a percentage off and will only be good in store -- Target is hoping Cartwheel will serve as a traffic driver. That also allows the marketer to offer a variety of deals for groceries, which are only available in store. The program is only available in the U.S.

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NAA research reveals U.S. consumers rely on newspaper media when making purchase decisions

On May 8, 2013 By Jason Sanford

From The NAA

More than 8 in 10 adults – 81 percent – took action in the past month as a result of seeing a newspaper ad, new research from the Newspaper Association of America shows. More than half made an actual purchase.

“How America Shops and Spends 2013,” conducted for NAA by Frank N. Magid Associates, measures patterns of behaviors in U.S. consumers, including advertising media usage for shopping and purchasing, the role of newspaper media in purchase decisions, the use of preprints and coupons, and online shopping actions.

“This research reaffirms the power of newspaper advertising to engage consumers, and what’s more, its ability to drive them to take action,” said NAA president and CEO Caroline Little. “Consumers live in an advertising-saturated world and advertisers want to reach consumers who actually see their ads and engage with them. As this research once again confirms, newspaper media do just that. Newspaper media help advertisers cut through the clutter and influence consumer shopping decisions.”

“How America Shops and Spends 2013” reveals several key trends in U.S. shopping patterns that are important for advertisers to consider, including:

Newspapers ranked first or tied for first place in seven of 12 benefit statements related to advertising platforms, with the top three being “you check for your regular shopping,” “most valuable in planning shopping” and “most believable and trustworthy.”
Print newspapers scored highest at 62 percent out of 19 advertising sources used by survey participants to plan shopping or make purchasing decisions in the last seven days. When combined with newspaper websites, the net number totaled 66 percent.
Survey participants who self-identified as nonreaders of newspapers nevertheless reported using them. Three of the top five actions from a list of 13 related specifically to advertising: clipping a coupon (16 percent), checking sales in local stores (16 percent) and comparing prices for items they intended to purchase (12 percent).
Nearly 9 out of 10 – 86 percent – of those who used online circulars also took some action as a result of a print newspaper insert in the past 30 days.

“How America Shops & Spends 2013” features data culled from 2,000 nationwide interviews with individuals 18 years or older.

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LinkedIn reaches 225 million on 10th birthday

On May 8, 2013 By Jason Sanford

Video now leads in digital advertising

On May 7, 2013 By Jason Sanford

From BizReport

"Video has emerged from the shadow of digital media options and planted itself at the center of the advertising ecosystem," said Tod Sacerdoti, CEO and founder of BrightRoll. "This year's survey underscores digital video's leadership position with proven effectiveness to reach audiences at scale, clearer success metrics to measure ROI and continued technological advancements to meet advertisers' campaign goals."

Brightroll's 2013 US Video Advertising Report shows:

75% of agencies find video 'as or more' effective than television, up 12% from 2012
66% say more than half of RFPs (Year over Year) include digi-video components, up 35% over 2012 numbers
One-third (36%) say behavioral targeting is the best option with video ads
One-third say programmatic video ad buys is an efficient system

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Newspapers: A cautionary tale for local TV

On May 6, 2013 By Jason Sanford

From TV News Check

Does this sound familiar? A local media company is enjoying robust revenue and modest audience declines. It continues to offer mass-market advertisers broad reach. Clearly there are dark clouds on the horizon — shifting media consumption behavior, expanding media choices, less expensive and more targeted options for advertisers, competitors with different business models. But business is good so there is little urgency to change.

This could describe U.S. newspapers in 2005, which were enjoying record revenue despite significant looming challenges to its business. Fast forward eight years later and the industry is less than half the size (in terms of ad dollars) than it was in 2005.

But it could also describe the local TV business today. Yet, with a few exceptions, executives are not operating with any sense of urgency. Why? Because revenue continues to be strong and declines in local TV viewing are relatively modest. But the parallels between TV stations today and newspapers in 2005 should be a cautionary tale for local TV executives.

Newspapers current state is the result of three key factors: a lack of revenue diversification, lack of aggressive investment in digital platforms and declines in audience, particularly from younger segments. The warning signs were clear: new platforms were destroying newspapers’ pricing capabilities and providing more effective user experiences; advertisers wanted more targeting and ROI; media choices for news were exploding.

Today, newspaper executives — who are operating with a great deal of urgency — are now focused on driving revenue from new sources and new customers, increasing investments in digital and, to a lesser extent, developing differentiated products on new platforms.

For local TV, the trends are equally troubling and there is much they can learn from newspapers’ experience and response.

In 2005, classified revenue accounted for 35% of newspapers’ total ad revenue, according to NAA. In 2012, the percentage dropped to 18% and actual revenue declined more than 70%. Most of those dollars moved online or disappeared completely. Retail, which accounted for 45% of revenue in 2005, has declined 50% since then.

Local TV has a similar reliance on automotive and political advertising, which accounted for 22% and 12% of ad revenue last year, respectively, according to TVB. But forecasts for both ad categories are not encouraging. Political advertising, obviously, is cyclical and despite being very strong in 2012, was distributed unevenly (most went to TV stations in key battleground states).

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Court dismisses Craigslist suit against competitors

On May 3, 2013 By Jason Sanford

From The New York Times

Craigslist does not have exclusive licenses to the postings on its classified advertising Web site, a federal court ruled on Tuesday.

Craigslist alleged last year that the listings Web sites PadMapperand Lovely, as well as 3Taps, a company that collects public data and organizes it for the use of developers, were infringing on its copyright and trademark. Craigslist also made a number of other piracy-related claims against the trio and asked the court to shut them down.

But Judge Charles R. Breyer of United States District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed the charges on Tuesday. Craigslist’s terms of use do not give it an exclusive license to customers’ data, he said in his ruling, and without an exclusive license, the company cannot sue for infringement.

In a blog post on the 3Taps Web site, Greg Kidd, the company’s chief executive, wrote that the ruling would allow new start-ups to create search options for customers, and that developers would be able to “confidently continue to focus on innovation rather than litigation.”

The legal battle isn’t over, however. The court declined to dismiss an additional case by Craigslist that accuses 3Taps of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act by siphoning listings from search engines. Craigslist did not respond to a request for comment.

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Previous Coverage

Disruptions: Innovations Snuffed Out by Craigslist

AdOhio Headlines

Kroger takes on Wal-Mart in Ohio with Marketplace stores
14 May 2013
From The Blade It’s just a few paragraphs in an 87-page financial report, but in the annual 10-K document that the Kroge

Automakers grow adept at targeting ads to Internet surfers
14 May 2013
From Automotive News The digital age has spawned effective ways for auto marketers to swipe customers from competitors.

As TV ratings and profits fall, networks face a cliffhanger
13 May 2013
From The New York Times As the major television networks prepare to unveil their new fall lineups in New York this week,

Email open rates average 19.7% last year
9 May 2013
From B to B Online Email marketers experienced an average open rate of 19.7% last year, although top-performing companie

Target teams up with Facebook
9 May 2013
From Ad Age Target is looking to Facebook to drive more foot-traffic in stores. The retailer is launching 700 new offers

Kroger takes on Wal-Mart in Ohio with Marketplace stores

Automakers grow adept at targeting ads to Internet surfers

As TV ratings and profits fall, networks face a cliffhanger

Email open rates average 19.7% last year

Target teams up with Facebook

NAA research reveals U.S. consumers rely on newspaper media when making purchase decisions

LinkedIn reaches 225 million on 10th birthday

Video now leads in digital advertising

Newspapers: A cautionary tale for local TV

Court dismisses Craigslist suit against competitors

AdOhio Headlines

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