Direct expenditure rises 16% to £16.4bn

by Ed Kemp, Marketing 24-Jul-07, 08:00

LONDON - Direct marketing spend increased by more than 16% to £16.4bn in 2006 from £14.1bn in 2004, according to the Direct Marketing Association.

The research, carried out by the Future Foundation, found that the biggest growth was in consumer communications, which rose by nearly 19%.

The biggest proportion of spend was on direct mail, which accounts for 26.1% of the total.

Unsurprisingly, the report also revealed a significant boost in online and email activity, which made up 21.5% of total spend.

Door-drops, inserts and direct-response magazine ads accounted for 8.6%, 7.3% and 9.8% of spend respectively.

Direct activity drove £125bn worth of consumer and business sales in 2006 - the equivalent of about 9% of UK consumer spending.

Sales generated by online rose to £52bn in 2006, compared with £14bn in 2004.

In terms of employment, the direct marketing industry has grown by 9.5% and now accounts for about 3% of total UK employment; 886,000 people now work in the industry. The average salary for people employed in UK direct activity now stands at £28,400 a year.