The figures underline the medium's position as the fastest growing part of the overall marketing communications mix with total spend on direct mail exceeding £20bn in 2000. Some 4.6 billion items of direct mail were sent in that year with consumer direct mail accounting for 3.5 billion of that total.

The new study, carried out on behalf of the Direct Mail Information Service, polled consumers throughout the country, finding that 42% had purchased as a result of direct mail in the previous year with the value of goods hitting £23.4bn. The research shows that the average Briton spent just over £514 in the last year as a result of being mailed by UK companies.

Of the £23.4bn, over 43% - or £10.2bn - is spent on clothes, underlining the continued strength of the mail order sector which was responsible for over 13% of total consumer direct mail volume in 2000.

Spend on travel/holidays accounted for £3.7bn of the overall total with expenditure on electrical goods reaching £1.7bn and £1.6bn being spent on household items. Nearly £1.1bn was generated through sales of computer equipment and software.

Analysis of the statistics shows that some 63% of the overall total was generated by those in the C2DE socio-economic bracket with the remaining 37% from the ABC1 segment.

Those in the 35-54 age bracket are most likely to purchase through direct mail with almost half of the £23.4bn (49%) being generated by those in this age segment. Geographically, those in the North spend more through direct mail, accounting for 56% of the total compared to the 44% in the South.

Of the 42% who purchased through direct mail, 10% spent between £1 and £100 with 5% spending between £101-£200 and the same percentage spending £201-£300. At the other end of the scale, 1% said they had spent over £10,000 through the medium in the last year.

Commenting on the research, DMIS Managing Director, Jo Howard-Brown says: "Those who continue to peddle the old "junk mail" myth would do well to study these figures closely. Quite simply they show why direct mail is the most dynamic medium in the overall marketing mix and why British companies spend so much on it annually - it works."