Direct Marketing Services – Industry Profile
Covering over 175 industries and updated every 90 days, the First Research Industry Profiles do the “heavy lifting” for you – saving your sales team valuable research time, enhancing client communications and giving you the competitive edge to win more business.
Easy-to-use and up-to-date, the Industry Profiles provide you with the industry research necessary to stay on top of constant changes in select industries.
The First Research profiles help target your products and services directly to prospects. The Industry Profiles provide the information and understanding you need to engage new prospects during the sales process, deepen customer relationships and strengthen your own bottom line.
Executive Summary
Brief Excerpt from Industry Overview Chapter:
The direct marketing services industry includes about 3,700 companies with combined annual revenue of over USD 11 billion. Major companies include Harte-Hanks, InfoUSA, RR Donnelley & Sons, and Acxiom. The industry is relatively fragmented: the 50 largest firms account for 46 percent of industry revenue.
COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE
Demand is driven by economic activity and corporate profits. The profitability of individual companies depends on their targeting services, creative skills, and marketing ability. Large companies have advantages in economies of scale in database analytics, marketing, and automated operations, which allow them to compete more aggressively on price. Small companies can compete effectively by specializing in a particular industry, geographic market, or service type. The direct marketing services industry is labor-intensive: average annual revenue per employee is less than USD 150,000.
PRODUCTS, OPERATIONS & TECHNOLOGY
Major services are letter shop services (preparing and sorting mail pieces); printing; mailing list services; concept development; and full direct mail services, which include all of the above. Full direct mail services accounts for almost two-thirds of industry revenue. Companies providing only letter shop services account for about 15 percent of industry revenue, and companies providing only print services account for about 8 percent. Other offerings include fulfillment, sales promotion, and distribution services.
Historically, direct marketing referred to direct mail and telemarketing. Direct marketing can use any medium to reach specific customers, including mail, TV, print, email, banner ads, and billboards. The direct marketing …
Table of contents
Industry Overview
Quarterly Industry Update
Business Challenges
Trends AND Opportunities
Call Preparation Questions
Financial Information
Website and Media Links
Glossary of Acronyms
