Marketing Science 2025

Banning Unsolicited Store Flyers: Does Helping the Environment Hurt Retailing?

Jonne Guyt¹; Arjen van Lin²; Kristopher Keller³

¹ University of Amsterdam · ² Tilburg University · ³ University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of a ban on unsolicited store flyers in seven Dutch municipalities that shifted from an opt-out to an opt-in policy between 2018 and 2020. Despite a 50% drop in flyer distribution, household grocery shopping behavior remained largely unchanged. The findings suggest that reducing flyer waste may be possible without substantially disrupting shopping behavior.

DOI

10.1287/mksc.2023.0020

Sources

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APA 7 MLA 9 Chicago (author–date) Harvard Elsevier Harvard (JFE, JBF…) The Accounting Review Academy of Management American Marketing Association INFORMS (Management Science) Copy citation Copied ✓