In 2019, more than 20 billion flyers, catalogs, and promotional leaflets of all kinds still filled mailboxes across France. The vast majority of brands and companies used this kind of advertising action, as reported by our colleagues from Merci pour l’Info. But it wasn’t meant to last! Indeed, several distribution giants will stop practicing this type of canvassing.

The boss of the E. Leclerc group, Michel-Edouard Leclerc, has indeed announced that he wants to completely put a stop to prospectuses and catalogs by September 2023. A practice that would affect all subsidiaries across France. It should be noted that the Franprix and Monoprix brands had already taken this step in 2019!

The causes of this reversal of advertising strategy? Themes related to costs but also to an ecological concern… At least that’s what the management of the different groups shows. The waste represented by these advertising catalogs is indeed not negligible: 40% of them go to the trash the moment they leave the mailbox!

The cost of paper is another significant element. Indeed, prices have jumped: in two years, we go from 400 to 1,200 euros per ton of paper. The cessation of the distribution of advertisements in letterboxes in paper format does not mean, however, in any way the end of the advertising canvassing, nor of the promotional offers which appeared there. Some groups are starting to promote their online catalogs which will remain until further notice, and which aim to replace their analogous counterparts…

Find below the distributors from which you should no longer receive unsolicited mail.