Both the Insurance (-2.5%) and Home Shopping (-6.1%) sectors saw a decrease in Direct Mail volume for this quarter, year on year. The largest volume increase was in the Government sector, with a 20.5% increase. Bank/Building Societies, Utilities and Health also saw volume increase.

End of year figures for 2003 show a small but steady growth on the previous year, mirroring the tougher environment experienced by all sides of the DM industry. Direct Mail volume for the full year was 5438 million items, an increase of 3.9% on 2002.

Direct Mail expenditure was £2431.2 million, up 2.2% on last year. Expenditure for 2003 was split between postage with £1019 million, an increase of 4.1% on the 2002 figure, and production with £1412.2 million, up 0.9%.

Consumer Direct Mail volume for 2003 was 4240.39 million items, an increase of 7.6% on the previous year. Business Direct Mail volume has decreased slowly throughout the year, with a total volume for 2003 of 1197.61 million items, a decrease of 7.4% on 2002.

The receipt of Direct Mail by ABs in 2003 increased 5.6%, while C1s increased by 10.5%.

All age groups saw an increase in their Direct Mail volume. The 45-54 age group saw the largest increase of 13.1% followed by 55-64 with 11.1%.

Jo Howard-Brown of DMIS said: “The year end figures only go to prove what the direct marketing industry has been saying for the last twelve months. Though there has been an increase in the amount of Direct Mail sent DM suppliers have seen a drop in the amount of money spent”.

Ends

For further information contact: Jo Howard-Brown, Managing Director, DMIS Tel: 020 7494 0483, Fax: 020 7494 0455, E-mail: jo@dmis.co.uk, Web site: www.dmis.co.uk

Note to Editors

DMIS has published Direct Mail volume and expenditure on behalf of the Royal Mail since 1981.