Research: digital leaflet not yet a fully-fledged alternative to paper copy

Several retailers have recently stopped distributing paper promotional leaflets in favour of targeted digital communication. This is a risky strategy: research shows that households that do not receive leaflets, will spend less.

Three arguments

Lidl Belgium recently announced that it is completely stopping sending its weekly paper leaflet: from now on, customer communication will be digital – although shoppers can still find the leaflet in shops. Lidl is not the first retailer to make such a decision: in France, supermarket chains E.Leclerc and Carrefour have already stopped distributing leaflets, in Belgium organic chain Bio-Planet (of Colruyt Group) already did it and just recently Dutch DIY chain Praxis also announced the end of its paper leaflet.