"Look Who Just Received A Paper Increase....All Circular Paper Grades Continue To Rise In Price"

Where are paper prices going and why? The newsprint and coated paper markets have gone wild for the last year but especially the last six months. There are many factors but common sense tells us the following. Production drops will continue and as paper volume drops it simply means the paper mill must charge more to meet their financial demands.

Canada Supports Paper Mills & The United States Retaliated With Tariffs To Level The Playing Field For American Paper Producers

The United States leveled the playing field Recently by instituting tariffs on Canadian paper mills identified dumping lower priced paper into the U.S. While this helped U.S. mills this again helped to drive paper costs higher.

As retailers we can move from printer to printer or as printer move from mill to mill but the end result is the same. Any actual savings is essentially "Fools Gold". Print advertising via external distribution of the printed circular just does not work.

Store copies yes, printed distribution weekly, no. Any external distribution more than once or twice per month will experience diminished returns. its not that the retailer does not get anything from it but the returns just don't work monetarily.

How does any retailer compete with the likes of Whole Foods now with Amazon? Whole Foods has no print budget hence the sudden huge markdowns at retail Whole Foods is able to achieve.

The end result is simple. All circular paper products are going to continue to rise while at the same time todays consumer has turned away from the newspaper as a resource for both its news and where and when to shop.

The Newspaper Or Shared Mail Are Not Long Term Solutions.....Period"

If as retailers we intend to build retail sales through new customers and larger basket sizes we must include the Millennial as a major component in our marketing decisions. Look around any waiting room, train or even survey your own dinner table. Everyone is looking at their phone. Simple logic tells us to reach the customer we must think digitally.

Lets skip past what social or digital channels and how often. These decisions become that of you and your marketing source for this information specific to your own retail demographic.

But simply put, it is time to think digital or retail sales and your ability to recover customer counts and basket size will disappear just as so many retailers have disappeared.

Many have asked why I choose to write about what I see in the supermarket industry today and my ideas. At Bad-Adz Digital, PreparedFoodPhotos.com & Adlife we believe great ideas and the resulting branding will give new life and direction to any company. So for that reason we chose to open the discussion.

Yes, I understand I probably misspelled something or butchered the English language in a few places, the goal however was to open your minds to new ideas. Many thanks to Sharon Albrizio for her help with this article.

Joel Albrizio, President of Bad-Adz Digital, PreparedFoodPhotos.com & Adlife

Follow Me On Twitter @joelalbrizio or right here on LinkedIn!

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