BrainTrust Query: Can a supermarket do without a weekly ad circular?

Editor's note: We received the following query from a director of operations at a small, independent grocery company. The author requested anonymity for competitive reasons. If you have your own query for our BrainTrust panel, address them to: info@retailwire.com

How many decide where to shop based on the prices in a traditional supermarket circular? Is it possible to get the same or better results with an in-store flyer? Or this combined with radio? As an independent operator with limited marketing funds, we need to justify every dollar spent, so I find myself asking these questions. I know a lot of my customers don't even read our circular, which hurts - considering the thousands I spend on them each week. I would love to put more of this money into the price of a product or a new program or service.

I think the traditional supermarket ad is completely boring. They all look the same. Same cuts. Same prices. The most interesting ones are from Trader Joe's, and they don't even have pictures! Whole Foods does a good job, but I believe they're still bi-weekly and in-store only.

What are we really gaining with our circular? My biggest competitor is a supercenter. They don't have an ad...but they do post OUR ad, offering to match prices (or they remove an item, if we're too cheap). If we somehow lure some of their shoppers over with our prices, will we really get long-term results or will it just be short-term sales gratification from low profit cherry pickers?

Discussion Questions: Can a supermarket successfully replace their weekly newspaper ad with an in-store/website flyer? If they used the money they would save in advertising and put it into mark-down, radio, in-store ad printing, and new programs or services, would they come out ahead? Would consumers end up tuning them out?