• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, September 2, 2003

Direct & Interactive Marketers Report Mixed Results for Second Quarter

A recent release from the Direct Marketing Association, citing their Quarterly Business Review (QBR) for the second quarter of 2003, says there are two very different experiences for direct and interactive marketers:

• those whose businesses continued to be impacted by a lack of recovery and the war in Iraq,
• and those who, despite everything, managed to post significant gains over last year.

The study results are from online surveys conducted by The DMA's Strategic Information Unit between July 1, 2003, and July 16, 2003.

H. Robert Wientzen, president & CEO, The DMA, said "The predicted economy-wide recovery has, to date, generally failed to materialize, leaving direct marketers now more focused than ever on customer retention and acquisition strategies."

The DMA's benchmark Revenue Index slipped five points to 49 from quarter one's 54 index. Consistent with the downturn in the revenue index, response rates continued to decline to 45 from last quarter's 47. Yet, profits and revenue, the two main measures of sales among users of direct and interactive marketing, both registered increases. The unweighted average increase for sales in the second quarter was 1.21 percent, while the weighted average sales increase was a full 6.26 percent.

Over the past quarter, 12.3 percent of Direct and Interactive Marketing users employed a new marketing channel, while15.6 percent introduced a new product line. The data reported by Direct Response Agencies suggests continued consolidation due in part to downsizing of employees, with increased focus on new customer acquisition drawing the lion's share of agency budget growth. Agencies reported that strong sales goals among these clients were not matched by expenditures, budgets, or testing.

22.1 percent of Direct Response suppliers indicated that they introduced a major new product line and 15.1 percent employed a new marketing channel in quarter two. Suppliers also experienced downturns in the level of employment and operations budgets, while most of the expenditure increases were experienced in new customer acquisition and customer service.

You can find out more here.