Maximizing Digital Circular Impact in a Fragmented Shopping Era

Everyone has a digital circular. Don’t let them die on your website or app.

What maximizes digital circulars’ incremental outcomes is the ability to extend the reach of this critical asset to shoppers before their next store visit.

In the hunt for value, consumers are frequenting more stores and channels, creating smaller basket sizes and increased competition. InMarket research found consumers, on average, made 21 grocery store visits in Q1 2025, up 31 percent from Q1 2023. Additionally, 57 percent of shoppers are changing where they shop to find the best deals, with many visiting club stores and discount/dollar stores more frequently.

Facing economic challenges alongside internal pressures to drive growth, marketers must unleash digital circulars’ full potential and focus on three core strategies:

1. Understand pre-shopping habits to optimize digital circular experiences.

Identifying pre-shopping behaviors and leveraging those insights at scale is pivotal for breaking through the clutter. If a shopper typically stops by your store on Tuesday or Thursday, one or two days before their next visit is the prime time to reach them. InMarket found that adding predictive display 24 hours to 48 hours prior to store visits resulted in engagement rates 11.5 percent above the industry benchmark.

Pre-shopping habits, including competitive analysis and past purchase insights, also inform more dynamic advertising experiences. If shoppers frequently visit warehouse clubs after stopping by a grocery chain for specific items like bottled water or canned goods, reaching them with unbeatable deals in personalized circular experiences can win back those dollars.

2. Focus on winning over shoppers with the highest growth potential.

Amid economic uncertainty, focus on audiences who pose the highest growth potential, like your most valuable customer. These high-frequency category buyers aren’t brand loyal yet, posing the highest potential to drive revenue and increase basket size when you understand what else they’re buying, where they’re going, and why they choose certain brands.

This is also a critical moment to analyze lapsed, lost and infrequent customers and understand how to win them back. Did loyal shoppers start purchasing candy at discount stores to get name brands for less, or switch to a competitor’s private label line that offers new, innovative flavors?

On average, while active shoppers typically account for only 15 percent of a store’s customers, lapsed, lost and infrequent customers can range from 70 percent to 85 percent. Both represent 50 percent of visits, so lapsed customers offer a huge upside. Use insights into where lost customers are going and purchase affinities to inspire new deals, creating valuable digital circular experiences that speak directly to their evolving needs.

3. Leverage real-time technology to remain agile and maximize outcomes.

Even with rich first-party data, the nature of fragmented shopping means you’re missing the complete picture of the incremental outcomes driven by advertising dollars.

The ability to measure success beyond the four walls of your store in real time ensures you better understand wins and where you’re falling behind so you can adapt accordingly.

Say you’re testing dynamic digital circular experiences across CTV and mobile and new tariffs are announced. A unified measurement platform that incorporates multitouch attribution (MTA) allows you to optimize towards creatives highlighting deals on those products or categories while campaigns are in flight. With a unified approach, these results can then inform media mix models and real-time scenario planning. This agility empowers retailers to better assess each channel’s impact, optimize campaign performance, and improve strategic planning, while increasing opportunities to win share from competitors by more effectively meeting customers’ needs.

The Key Takeaways

Digital circulars highlight deals and your wealth of products — top factors when making purchase decisions during times of economic uncertainty. Retailers need to set themselves apart by:

• Identifying partners who can uncover real-time shifts in consumer behavior beyond their four walls.
• Amplifying digital circulars with a full-funnel strategy, extending their reach with interactive advertising experiences across channels.
• Prioritizing technology and partners that power agility, from insights and targeting to real-time measurement and optimization.

Gerry Joyce is vice president, practice leader of retail at InMarket, a leader in real-time marketing and measurement.