Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Mail order spend fell slightly in the run-up to Christmas but the value of the average order rose.
Recent research undertaken by transactional database specialist Abacus shows that spend in those mail order categories analysed fell 0.6% year on year but, significantly, that average order values were up by 2.7%.
However, in the home interiors category total spend fell by 11.6% in the run-up to last Christmas, with average order value slightly down at 0.9%.
A sample of 108 participants provided information on trends for August, September, October and November trading in 2008 and 2009.
Abacus UK sales director Matthew Pepper said the research proved that “there are customers still spending and with average order values holding firm now is the time to evaluate how careful targeting will empower you to recruit profitable new customers.
“Return on investment from catalogues continues to outperform many other channels.”
