Tobias Schmitz still remembers the day when REWE announced to its retailers that it was phasing out flyer advertising: "There was a lot of uncertainty. I almost drove myself crazy and asked: Will the customer still come?" Then as now, the young merchant faced extremely tough competition with his two stores in Mönchengladbach. "Goods in the entry-level price segment and promotional items are in high demand," says Schmitz. The concern: without paper brochures, customers would no longer be able to take advantage of REWE's special offers and instead go bargain hunting at the competition. In fact, one competitor took advantage of the supposed favour of the hour and massively increased the circulation of its flyers.

But Tobias Schmitz was not alone in his concerns, his fellow retailers were also worried - and expressed these openly in the co-design committees (TEK working group) of the REWE Region West. "The concerns and thoughts of the merchants were taken seriously there and measures were decided upon," says Schmitz. One of these measures was a 'countdown', with which the imminent end of this medium was announced in the flyer for several weeks in an eye-catching manner.

He also thought to himself: "The decision against the flyer is the decision in favour of something new." And he had to win his employees over to this new idea. "I involved my team in the change process in a meeting, explained the background to this decision, especially the sustainability aspect, and got my team on board." Schmitz is aware of their key role: "It is crucial that the employees who are very close to the customer are on board." Many customers use the REWE app to find out about offers, says Tobias Schmitz. I Photos: Achim Bachhausen When there were one or two complaints from customers during the changeover, the employees had good arguments with reference to the conservation of resources, and they were also able to point to the alternative advertising channels.

"Overall, we haven't lost any frequency or demand for promotional items," summarises the entrepreneur. This is despite the fact that he still does not advertise in the local press and communicates comparatively little on social media. "Many customers get their information online, for example via the 'kaufda' portal or the REWE app," he has realised.

His conclusion is clear: "Switch has succeeded thanks to the REWE brand." However, he would still like to make one suggestion: For the future, Tobias Schmitz would like to be able to advertise on the new channels in a more flexible, customised and location-specific way.