The first quarter of 2002 has seen the Direct Mail medium continue to flourish with both volume and expenditure rising year on year.
Official figures released by the Direct Mail Information Service show that, in the January to March period, volume rose 3.9% over the same period in 2001 - hitting 1.364 billion items.
Expenditure was up 5.8%, rising from £595.6m in the first quarter of 2001 to £629.9m in the same period this year.
An analysis of the volume figures shows that the increase has been fuelled by a sharp rise in mailings from the home shopping sector. Here volume rose 12.5% year on year to 149.7 million items.
There was an even sharper percentage increase in the travel/charity/leisure sector where volume went up 23.2% to 128.85 million items.
Only one major sector showed a significant drop. Mailings from insurance companies fell by 12.1% to 99.43 million items.
Mailings to the traditionally lucrative AB socio-economic grouping continue to show a fall. In the January to March period volume was down to 235.88 million - a decrease of 14.5%.
In contrast, mailings to DEs continue to show a significant increase with volume in the first quarter rising 30.5% year on year to 295.47 million items. This made the DEs the most mailed group in the first three months of 2002.
Commenting on the figures, DMIS Managing Director, Jo Howard-Brown, says: "In spite of the continuing tough economic environment the Direct Mail medium continues to show encouraging growth. Its accountability and cost effectiveness make it less vulnerable to cutbacks and there is little sign that this situation will change."
