Before dropping presents through the chimney, Saint-Nicolas drops his leaflets in 4,3 million Belgian mailboxes. And successfully so! A recent survey indicates that leaflets are still getting more popular, and make for maximum impact on buying intentions.
A recent Saint-Nicolas survey, conducted by BD myShopi and market research agency Profacts, proves that 30-to 50 year-olds are the big spenders when it comes to Saint-Nicolas presents. 9 out of 10 families with children up to 12 years old buy St. Nicholas presents. Godmothers and -fathers (36%) and grandparents (29%) also join the shopping spree. With budgets going from €50 to €150, Belgian kids are well provided for, although regional differences occur. In Flanders, 13% of the children get more than €150, in Wallonia even 21% does.
94% of parents with children up to 12 years old reads Saint-Nicholas leaflets and according to 77% of them it’s their favourite source of information for Saint-Nicholas gifts. Also, 28% of parents who don’t receive leaflets in their mailbox do read the Saint-Nicholas leaflets. They are more commonly shared (17%) than other leaflets and kept for 2 weeks or longer (70%).
The amount of readers amongst children in the relevant target group (children who can read between 4 and 12 years) is impressive as well: 93% of the children reads Saint-Nicholas leaflets and 74% creates a wish list made with products cut from those leaflets. And it looks like adolescents are happy as well to see Saint-Nicolas year after year: 44 % of families with the eldest child being older than 18 still have Saint-Nicholas wish lists. Isn’t that wonderful news for the retailers who offer electronics or telecom products?
The fact that Belgian consumers are lagging behind on online shopping is especially clear around Saint-Nicholas. 50% of consumers who buys Saint-Nicholas gifts does so in a physical shop and only 10% does so online. The offline trend is visible in our reading behaviour as well: all children between 4 and 12 years look for presents in paper leaflets and 96% of their parents buy presents based on those paper leaflets. 11% (kids) and 33% (parents) also read digital leaflets, considering them to be a useful addition to paper leaflets. To reach and activate children, parents and grandparents, paper leaflets prove to be the most important tool, since they’re being read by most of the target groups and are easily turned into wish lists.
