Direct’s Exclusive Survey Shows Profits, Acquisition Spending Up

For folks who can’t get enough catalogs, who swoon at the idea of a stack of double postcards filling their mailboxes, and who feel the streets of Shangra-Li are paved with direct mail offers, 2005 is going to be their year. Direct marketers are going to be renting more lists and sending more mail, according to a survey of Direct magazine readers.

Some marketers are already ahead of this trend. Take The Sharper Image Corp. At midyear, it had increased its catalog circulation for the first six months of 2004 by 13% -- and realized a 21% increase in catalog-generated revenue for its pains. (The company did slightly offset this circulation jump by cutting its solo direct mail volume by nearly 2% during the same period.)

Why the rush to increase mailing levels? As in Sharper Image’s case, the proof is in the payoff: Survey respondents reported higher revenue during the first nine quarters of 2004, compared with the first three quarters of 2003. The numbers reporting declines was nearly half last year’s level. Margins matched this trend, with those reporting higher profits increasing and fewer saying their margins had dropped.

A fuller write-up of the Direct reader survey appears in the December issue of Direct magazine.