The Rise of Direct Mail Shows Change in the Use of Print

At the heart of the rise in direct mail has been the shift to e-commerce. We already have discussed in a prior issue how the rise of e-commerce correlates with very high statistical reliability the decline in commercial printing shipments. Direct mail, however, is being used to stimulate e-commerce use. On one hand, magazine advertising, catalog printing, and other print products have been negatively affected by the e-commerce growth. Yet, direct mail offers a reliable way to cut through communications clutter and get into peoples’ homes for what the USPS has described as “the mail moment.”