Media companies and Google breathing life into e-Circulars

Retailers have long been searching for a viable complement to their weekly print circulars delivered in newspapers and in the mail. A concept that has been in place for several years now is the e-circular. Essentially, the e-circular is a digital replica of the printed circular, in pdf format.

Because retailers operate in a price/item environment, often with dozens of product categories to cover off on, the circular has provided the most efficient means to convey these offerings, and consumers have religiously seeked them out. Circulars are largely delivered by newspapers and the USPS, and concerns about the challenges faced by each has fostered the search for additional delivery options. In addition, printing and delivering the circulars represents a sizable investment.

E-circulars were developed to help solve for the gradual decline in print circulation and to help reduce costs. Recognizing that consumers were increasingly turning to digital sources for information, this seemed to be a logical transition. However, it has been a fairly slow transition for consumers to embrace circulars in digital format. Mass retailers tend to appeal to more traditional consumers who still incorporate traditional media such as newspapers and even the USPS into their daily routine. In addition, the experience of viewing a circular on a PC is just not the same as it is on the couch on a Sunday morning with a warm cup of coffee.

Perhaps that may change with some recent product launches made by a number of groups including some of the largest newspaper publishers in the U.S., as well as Search giant Google.

McClatchy Corp. launched a site called FindNSave.com to deliver a hybrid e-circular experience that also incorporates product searches, coupons and daily deals, in its 11 markets. The challenge for McClatchy, and other media companies who have launched similar efforts, has been the lack of national scale. That riddle has been solved as the FindNSave model will soon be adopted by other major newspaper companies to deliver a scalable, yet targetable solution for major advertisers.

Another recent effort to reinvigorate the digital experience around e-circulars was recently launched by the newspaper industry using an App developed by the AP. What is being referred to as the iCircular addresses the mobile component for newspapers seeking to provide a solution for this growing medium. While the basis of the App is related to circulars, hence the name iCirculars, the App really provides much more of a comparison shopping environment, as opposed to focusing solely on repurposing the circular in digital format, as the experience on a mobile device is not ideal for the end user. A number of major retailers are currently testing this App and the newspaper industry is closely monitoring this in hopes that it may lead to future revenue opportunities in mobile.

Google has been working diligently to enter into the shopping space for quite some time through various means. Their latest effort attempts to provide a circular type experience through the launch of its new ad unit called "Circulars." The new ad units ads will be targeted by location and personalized based on the user's query. The ads will be served when a user clicks on a search or display ad. A major advantage of circulars in print has been the ability to geo-target special offers. Digital circulars provide that same benefit, but the Google offering takes it a step further by using information derived from a query to serve the personalized ads. Google has the advantage of understanding user behavior and using this info to serve additional information, including advertising. It remains to be seen if consumers will take it a step further and actually interact with the ads, but Google's massive audience potential makes it easier to overcome historically low digital response rates.

As retailers continue to seek out effective means to drive shoppers into their bricks and mortar locations, it may still be conceivable that e-circulars play an active role, especially with the amount of attention they are now receiving from media companies. It will be interesting to see how consumers respond.