ABSTRACT

The study employs a bibliometric analysis of scientific articles published on direct marketing. The objective is to ascertain the current state of the literature by determining the evolution of direct marketing literature and identifying authors, publications and sources that have made significant contributions to the field. This will provide a comprehensive overview of the existing literature and shed light on the researchers who will conduct studies on the subject. In the course of this study, the term "direct marketing" was entered in the title, keywords, or abstract sections of articles in the field of business administration in the Web of Science database and a total of 514 publications were subjected to bibliometric analysis through the VOSviewer software. The analysis yielded the following prominent authors in the field of direct marketing: Linda D. Hollebeek, Sonja Gensler, Roderick J. Brodie, Peter C. Verhoef, and Mark S. Glynn. The most frequently used keywords in conjunction with direct marketing were "social media", "internet" and "customer relationship management". The most cited source was the Journal of Interactive Marketing. The findings indicate a decline in research interest in direct marketing in the Web of Science database, particularly since 2021. However, studies demonstrate that businesses continue to allocate significant budgets to direct marketing and view it as a preferred promotional strategy. This suggests that there is still considerable scope for further research in this field. In light of the research findings, it is anticipated that future research focusing on new marketing strategies and technologies brought about by digitalization will make a significant contribution to the existing body of literature.