Direct Mail Advertising Global Market Opportunities and Strategies to 2033

This report describes and explains the direct mail advertising market and covers 2018-2023, termed the historic period, and 2023-2028, 2033F termed the forecast period. The report evaluates the market across each region and for the major economies within each region.

The global direct mail advertising market reached a value of nearly $58.5 billion in 2023, having grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 0.9% since 2018. The market is expected to grow from $58.5 billion in 2023 to $64.6 billion in 2028 at a rate of 2%. The market is then expected to grow at a CAGR of 1.3% from 2028 and reach $69.1 billion in 2033.

Growth in the historic period resulted from the rise of traditional advertising, historical shifts in creative design preferences, influence of postal service reliability and efficiency and increased focus on cost-effective advertising methods. Factors that negatively affected growth in the historic period were environmental concerns and data privacy issues.

Going forward, the rising urbanization, government support, growing advertising industry and increasing consumer preference for direct mail advertising will drive the growth. Factor that could hinder the growth of the direct mail advertising market in the future include postal delivery delays and digital advertising growth.

The direct mail advertising market is segmented by type into postcards, self-mailers, letters and envelop, dimensional mailers, and catalogs. The self-mailers market was the largest segment of the direct mail advertising market segmented by type, accounting for 36.4% or $21.3 billion of the total in 2023. Going forward, the dimensional mailers segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the direct mail advertising market segmented by type, at a CAGR of 2.2% during 2023-2028.

The direct mail advertising market is segmented by end-user into retail, banks & financial institutions, transportation, media & entertainment, government, and other end-users. The retail market was the largest segment of the direct mail advertising market segmented by end-user, accounting for 24.7% or $14.5 billion of the total in 2023. Going forward, the transportation segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the direct mail advertising market segmented by end-user, at a CAGR of 2.5% during 2023-2028.

The direct mail advertising market is segmented by enterprise size into large enterprise and small and medium enterprise. The small and medium enterprise market was the largest segment of the direct mail advertising market segmented by enterprise size, accounting for 75.6% or $44.2 billion of the total in 2023. Going forward, the small and medium enterprise segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the direct mail advertising market segmented by enterprise size, at a CAGR of 2.1% during 2023-2028.

Western Europe was the largest region in the direct mail advertising market, accounting for 29.7% or $17.4 billion of the total in 2023. It was followed by Asia Pacific, North America and then the other regions. Going forward, the fastest-growing regions in the direct mail advertising market will be Eastern Europe and Middle East where growth will be at CAGRs of 3.4% and 2.8% respectively. These will be followed by Africa and Asia Pacific where the markets are expected to grow at CAGRs of 2.5% and 2.4% respectively.

The global direct mail advertising market is fragmented, with many small players operating in the market. The top ten competitors in the market made up 8.39% of the total market in 2022. Harte Hanks was the largest competitor with a 4.59% share of the market, followed by Quad/Graphics with 0.99%, RR Donnelley with 0.93%, Valassis Communications Inc with 0.80%, IWCO Direct (Steel Connect, Inc) with 0.29%, Cenveo with 0.29%, Hibbert with 0.23%, Dai Nippon Printing Co Ltd with 0.18%, Modern Postcard with 0.05% and Postcard Mania with 0.05%.

The top opportunities in the direct mail advertising market segmented by type will arise in the self-mailers segment, which will gain $2.2 billion of global annual sales by 2028. The top opportunities in the direct mail advertising market segmented by end-user will arise in the retail segment, which will gain $1.9 billion of global annual sales by 2028. The top opportunities in the direct mail advertising market segmented by enterprise size will arise in the small and medium enterprise segment, which will gain $4.8 billion of global annual sales by 2028. The direct mail advertising market size will gain the most in the USA at $1.3 billion.

Market-trend-based strategies for the direct mail advertising market include focus on personalization through automation platforms, focus on strategic mergers and acquisitions among market players, focus on growing investments in manufacturing facilities to drive growth and innovation, focus on increased focus on AI-powered apps to accelerate digital transformation, focus on technological role of NFC in direct mail advertising and focus on revolutionizing direct mail with the rise of 3D advertising campaigns.

Player-adopted strategies in the direct mail advertising market include focus on collaboration and partnerships to expand direct marketing initiatives, focus on helping marketers to produce personalized direct marketing campaigns through the launch of new solutions, focus on launching new solutions to help marketers understand consumer intents and improve their return on investments (ROI) and focus on improving its data-driven performance marketing services through collaborations and partnerships.

To take advantage of the opportunities, the analyst recommends direct mail advertising companies to focus on personalized direct mail automation platforms, focus on ai-powered apps for direct mail marketing, focus on near-field communication (NFC) integration in direct mail campaigns, focus on implementing 3d direct mail campaigns, focus on expanding dimensional mailers segment, expand in emerging markets, continue to focus on developed markets, focus on strategic mergers and acquisitions, focus on strategic investments for expansion, provide competitively priced offerings, focus on value-based pricing for direct mail advertising companies, participate in trade shows and events, continue to use B2B promotions, prioritize digital channels for promotion, offer incentives for referrals and repeat business and focus on transportation end-user segment for growth.