Strong growth in the fourth quarter helped the direct mail medium post record volume and expenditure figures in 2001.
Despite the well-publicised economic slowdown, direct mail volume grew by 5.9% year on year with expenditure up 8.7%, underlining the medium's position as the most dynamic part of the overall marketing communications mix.
Although both volume and expenditure grew year on year in each individual quarter, the October to December 2001 period provided the strongest growth with volume up 9.6% to 1.248 billion items and expenditure hitting £641.58m - up 11.2%.
Over the year as a whole, this means that direct mail volume almost hit the five billion item mark - weighing in at 4.939 billion. Expenditure rose to £2.228bn.
Analysing the consumer volume figures by sector shows that insurance companies mailed 399 million items in 2001, up 13.6% on the previous year. Other high volume mailers also contributed to the increase with the home shopping sector accounting for 504 million items, up 6.9% year on year.
At the smaller end of the scale, there was a marked increase in health related mailings with volume up 44.4% year on year to 36.4 million items.
Mailings to the lucrative AB socio-economic grouping fell again in 2001 with volume down 9.5%. In contrast, mailings to DEs rose significantly, up 22.3%.
Examining the consumer volume statistics by age, the most dramatic increase comes in mailings to those in the 55-64 age bracket, with volume up 23.7%. Mailings to 16-34 year olds and those over 65 rose by 6.6% and 8.3% respectively while those in the 35-44 year old bracket saw mailing volumes decrease marginally. Those aged between 45 and 54 actually received significantly less mailings with volume year on year down over 7%.
Commenting on the figures, DMIS Managing Director, Jo Howard-Brown, says: "No-one can deny that 2001 was a particularly tough year so to see both volume and expenditure continue to grow is testament to the strength of the direct mail medium."
