June 11th , 2012 MARKETING NEWS Facebook Impressions Don’t Influence Most Users to Purchase ............................................................ 1 Many Mobile Users Keep Print Newspapers Subscriptions ..................................................................... 2 Offline Ads Drive Mobile Response ......................................................................................................... 3 QR Code Adoption by Merchants Booms ................................................................................................ 4 Sprint Pushes the Envelope to Reduce Its Environmental Footprint ....................................................... 6 PUBLISHING NEWS Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Licenses Living Books ................................................................................... 8 J. V. Rockwell Publishing Acquires the GossRSVP Business from Goss .................................................... 8 MPA's Nina Link to Step Down................................................................................................................. 8 PDF to EPUB Conversion Tools Score Low on Accuracy in VIGC Test .................................................... 10 RETAIL NEWS AEO rolls out Shopkick loyalty program to all stores ............................................................................. 11 America’s “General” store maintains momentum ................................................................................ 11 Customers Like Personalization In-Store More Than Online ................................................................. 11 Organized retail crime continues to rise ................................................................................................ 13 Walmart taps augmented reality to engage in-store customers .......................................................... 14 ECONOMIC UPDATE GDP: 1.9% in Q1 2012 Unemployment Rate: Unemployment was essentially unchanged at 8.2 percent Consumer Confidence: which had declined slightly in April, fell further in May. The Index now stands at 64.9, down from 68.7 in April. MARKETING NEWS Facebook Impressions Don’t Influence Most Users to Purchase Staff , Marketing Charts . 6/6/2012 Facebook impressions don’t actually make much of an impression on users, according to a Reuters and Ipsos poll released in June 2012. Only 1 in 5 American Facebook users say they have ever bought a product or service due to advertising or comments they saw on Facebook. This research comes on the heels of AP-CNBC survey results released in May which found that 83% of users rarely if ever click on ads or sponsored content on the site. On a more encouraging note, though, 18-34-year-olds are 40% more likely than the average to have been influenced by a Facebook impression to make a purchase. Data from a new Inside Network Research report indicates that this demographic makes up 44% of Facebook’s US audience. 1 in 3 Recommend Brands Followed on SocNets Facebook impressions may not yet be leading to purchases, but a significant proportion of brands’ fans indicate a willingness to recommend them to others. According to a separate Ipsos survey also released in June, 35% of US respondents have recommended a brand they either like or follow on a social network. While age is once again a factor - 48% of those under 35 1 have recommended a brand they are a fan of - a gender dynamic is also at play. In fact, women are 41.4% more likely than men in the US to have recommended a brand they are fan of (41% vs. 29%). Coincidentally, the Inside Network Research report finds that demand for the female consumer in the US has driven female ad rates 8% higher than for males on Facebook. The importance of social recommendations was recently highlighted in a Sociable Labs survey, which found that 1 in 4 online shoppers, who shop at least quarterly online and login to their Facebook account at least monthly, have made a purchase based on a social recommendation. Facebook Engagement Drops Further data from the Ipsos and Reuters poll reveals that more than one-third of US Facebook users are spending less time on Facebook compared to 6 months ago. The primary reasons given for this drop in engagement are finding the site boring, not relevant or not useful (27%), a lack of time (25%), and concerns about privacy (24%). Privacy concerns certainly appear to be prevalent among social network users. According to MiMedia survey results released in June, 71% of American consumers are concerned about the security and privacy of their personal information on Facebook. And these consumers are ready to act, too: 4 in 5 would stop using a social media site if they found out their privacy was violated. Other Findings: Data from the Ipsos and Reuters poll indicates that 60% of 18-34-year-old Americans use Facebook every day, and a further 16% use the social network at least weekly. The 18-34 set has the most favorable opinions of Facebook. Two-thirds say they have either a very or somewhat favorable opinion of the social network, compared to 48% of 35-54-year-olds and just 31% of those over 55. 44% of users said that what they have heard about the Facebook IPO has made them less favorable to Facebook. Ipsos survey respondents in Turkey (64%) were the most likely to say they had recommended a brand they like or follow on a social network. Respondents in Japan (18%) were the least likely to have done so. About the Data: The Ipsos/Reuters data is based on an online survey of 1,032 Americans conducted from May 31 - June 4, 2012. The Ipsos brand recommendation data is based on a poll of 12,000 consumers across 24 countries, including 500 in the US. The MiMedia data points are from an online survey of 315 American adults aged 18 and older, conducted in March 2012. Many Mobile Users Keep Print Newspapers Subscriptions Staff , Print In The Mix . 6/6/2012 According to a survey conducted by the Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) at the University of Missouri, despite two- thirds of U.S. adults using at least one mobile media device in their daily lives, users of these mobile devices "are not abandoning print media at a faster rate than non-users of mobile devices." Examining smartphones, tablets, and e-reader use, the study, The 2012 RJI Mobile Media News Consumption Survey, finds that nearly equal percentages of mobile media device users (39.8%) and non-users (40.2%) subscribe to at least one newspaper or newsmagazine. 76% subscribed to a local daily or Sunday newspaper 31% subscribed to a newsmagazine 29% subscribed to a weekly community newspaper 17% subscribed to a national newspaper “The increased use of mobile devices does not yet appear to have accelerated the switch from print to digital news consumption as earlier surveys suggested,” Roger Fidler, the program director for digital publishing at 2 RJI and the study’s author is quoted as saying. “Forty percent of mobile device users indicated in our survey that they still subscribe to printed newspapers and news magazines. This percentage was almost identical for non-users of mobile devices.” Additional findings: More than half of adults surveyed use a smartphone daily, and smartphone users make up 85% of all mobile media device users. Among uses of mobile media devices news consumption ranks fourth (63%) behind interpersonal communications (85%), entertainment (73%), and web surfing for information not provided by news organizations. Smartphones and large media tablets are the two most popular devices for consuming news. The most popular device category after smartphones is large media tablets, and the overwhelming majority of device owners in this category (88%) use an Apple iPad. Individuals between the ages of 18 and 34 make up almost half of mobile media device users. More than half of non-mobile devices users are 55 or older. Mobile media device users tend to have a higher income and more education than non-users. About: 1,015 randomly selected participants completed the survey between Jan. 17-Mar. 25, 2012. Ages ranged from 18 to 88 with an average age of 44; Gender: 56% Men, 44% Women; 57% only own a cell phone; 26% a cell phone and landline phone; 17% only a landline telephone; 67% own at least one mobile media device. Offline Ads Drive Mobile Response Google, in partnership with Ipsos MediaCT, interviewed 1,000 U.S. online adults (18-64 years of age) who identified themselves as using a smartphone to access the Internet. Select findings from Google's Our Mobile Planet: U.S. smartphone penetration has risen to 44%. Smartphone owners are becoming increasingly reliant on their devices with 66% reporting they access the Internet every day on their smartphone and 80% saying they never leave home without their device. Smartphones are changing the way consumers shop -- 96% of owners have researched a product or service on their device. 35% of respondents have made a purchase on their phone -- 68% have bought a service or product via their device in the last month. Offline ad exposure leads to mobile search: 3 Source: eMarketer More than four out of 10 (43%) smartphone owners used their device to search in response to television ads at least monthly. Nearly as many, 40%, searched in response to ads they saw in stores, followed by magazine ads (31%), and poster advertisements (24%). About: In partnership with Ipsos MediaCT, Google interviewed a total of 1,000 US online adults (18-64 years of age) who identified themselves as using a smartphone to access the Internet. Sampling: 51% female, 49% male.