Direct Marketing employs 20,000 people throughout Switzerland

 With the support of the Swiss Direct Marketing Association (SDV), Swiss Post has examined the economic importance of direct marketing. According to the press release, the study was prompted by the increasingly loud discussions about possible restrictions on this communication tool. The management consultancy HTP in St. Gallen, which was commissioned to carry out the study "Direct Marketing as an Economic Factor", analyzed the importance of direct marketing for the job market, its influence on the prices of postal services and its benefits for advertisers. The results show that just under 20,000 people work in the direct marketing industry in Switzerland on a full-time equivalent basis. The approximately 2,100 service providers generate an annual turnover of almost CHF 3.7 billion for direct marketing services. If 10 percent is deducted for sales that are not directly billable, the figure is still 3.3 billion, which corresponds to 0.68 percent of Switzerland's gross domestic product (GDP). Around 1.4 billion francs of this is generated by printing companies. Experts estimate that this corresponds to around a quarter of the industry's total turnover. Swiss Post generates sales of 776 million francs in this segment and employs around 3,700 full-time equivalent employees.
The authors of the study assume that a tightening of the Data Protection Act would restrict the use of addresses for customer acquisition. This would have particular consequences for those companies and organizations that communicate a great deal via direct marketing, such as aid organizations.