Supermarket giant Coles has slashed thousands of dollars from its weekly print advertising allotment, cutting over half of its spending in magazines and newspapers.

The grocery chain, according to Neilsen, was previously spending upwards of $100,000 per week on printed catalogues and advertisements in the nation’s newspapers and magazine.

In the early months of 2016, Coles reportedly allocated around $50,000 per week for its print budget, a considerable drop from last year’s average of $150,000 per week in January and February.

Australia’s regional titles have taken the hardest hit with Cole’s spending dive. The 2016 January and February expenditure barely scrapes $180,000 compared to 2015’s $909,000.

The print costs Coles allotted to metropolitan areas were stronger for the first two months of 2016, but were still slashed by more than half from $1.2m to $500,000.

[Related: Print catalogues preferred]

Last year, Coles spent an estimated $11.8m on print advertising alone, according to Neilsen, $11m of that shared between regional and metropolitan newspapers and $658,000 for magazines.

The divestment is expected to impact the advertising revenue from major media groups News Corp and APN News and Media, for whom major retailers including Coles and Woolworths inject millions into each year.

ProPrint contacted News Corp for comment however they declined to speak on the matter.

The cuts come amidst a string of marketing cutbacks for some of Australia’s food and beverage retailers, as television advertising has also reduced significantly. According to the data, print remains the second largest media category for marketers in this industry.

It is uncertain if the print cost-cutting is a long term strategy, or whether rival supermarket giant Woolworths will follow suit.

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