Many people browse the flyers in supermarkets, drugstores and discounters every week for savings offers. But printed advertising is expensive and not particularly environmentally friendly. That’s why many companies are rethinking. FOCUS online says what will change in 2023 and how you can get the bargain offers.
The printed advertising brochure is particularly popular with savers. Weekly you can find inexpensive groceries, drugstore items or even bait offers such as clothing, shoes, electronics or household items.
Because the printing, paper and transport costs have risen sharply in recent months, many companies are rethinking. Rewe is the first retailer to discontinue the weekly brochure this year. The last printed edition with almost 200 offers should appear in July. After that, customers should only receive offers online via app, homepage or WhatsApp. In addition, Rewe is putting up more and more digital advertisements in its branches.
Rewe justifies the end of the printed brochure with its sustainability strategy. The dealer wants to save paper with the measure and thus improve the CO2 balance. According to its own statements, Rewe saves more than 73,000 tons of paper, 70,000 tons of CO2 and 380 million kilowatt hours of energy every year by eliminating the brochure.
Other retailers may follow. After all, printed advertising is considered to be particularly expensive. In addition, the delivery failures in the past year showed that customers cannot be informed quickly enough about changes to the offer through the printed version. The discounter LIdl in particular used its own app “Lidl Plus” for this purpose.
The discounter group Aldi, for example, is discontinuing the printed customer magazine “Aldi Inspiriert”. From now on it will only appear digitally and the content will be further expanded. The free advertising magazine was launched in 2015 and was printed over 1.8 million times every two months.
“Since our articles are now available to you online around the clock, we have decided to no longer publish our magazine in printed form,” explains the Aldi editorial team in the foreword on page 3 of the January/February issue. The issue is currently available in many branches of Aldi Süd and Aldi Nord. From March 2023, the magazine will only appear online.
Also read: At Aldi, Lidl, Rewe and Edeka – brochures, gaps in the shelves, price increases – that will change in the supermarket in 2023
If you don’t want to miss any more offers, you can use WhatsApp from now on. Customers will then receive the prospectus every Sunday after a short registration via chat message.
Retailers who already use this service include Aldi Nord, Aldi Süd, Metro, Kaufland, Netto Marken-Discount, Penny and Rewe. Lidl presents the prospectus via its “Lidl Plus” app. The press offices confirmed to FOCUS online that the service was “very well” accepted by customers. Exact figures are not available.
Anyone who still needs a leaflet in printed form will initially (as of January 2023) find it at Aldi Nord, Aldi Süd, Combi, Edeka, famila, Hit, Kaufland, Lidl, Marktkauf, mein Real, Netto Deutschland, Netto Marken-Discount, among others , Mix Markt, Rewe, V-Markt or tegut.
Paper brochures are expensive. They are first printed and then distributed via third-party companies. The brochures often end up in the garbage and are not even opened by the customers.
On the one hand, retailers can use the digital brochure to see when customers open the brochure and at what time, how long it takes them to leaf through it, where they start reading and when they stop reading. How long people browse through the advertising brochure and which offers they take a closer look at can help companies to boost sales.
WhatsApp is the most popular messenger service in the world. In Germany, too, millions of people use it every day. They communicate with family and friends via text, audio or video messages. If customers now receive a free advertising message from Aldi, Rewe or Netto Marken-Discount, this message will appear in the chat overview for a longer period of time. This direct advertising measure binds customers more closely to the company.
The best savings tactic is: prepare, plan, search, compare, note, look for vouchers and only then shop.
Create a weekly cooking plan and only buy food that you need for this cooking plan.
Make a note of special offers from brochures. If you can’t find a brochure or the retailer doesn’t print a flyer, check the retailer’s online site for special offers. You often have to enter a zip code there because the special offers vary by region.
The in-house apps from Aldi Süd, Aldi Nord, Lidl, Netto Marken-Discount, Rewe or Edeka can also help. There are also programs that combine all the promotional offers. Such apps are, for example, Smhaggle, Sparpionier, KaufDa or MarktGuru. The CHIP colleagues have put together the appropriate downloads for you.
If possible, do not engage in one-stop shopping. So don’t just go to a supermarket to do your weekly shopping. One-stop shopping is only worthwhile if you only buy private labels. Here all supermarkets and all discounters use the same prices. Also, always shop on a full stomach.
If you want to save: Do not rely on a combination of special offers from Aldi, Lidl, Penny and other retailers, from private labels and use vouchers and cashback programs.
With Cashback you buy a product and then send the photographed receipt and the purchased product to the manufacturer via mobile phone photo. They will send you the money back within 14 days.
Pay only with cash at the checkout. This is how you avoid spontaneous purchases.
