Businesses that use catalogues as sales and marketing tools say they are directly responsible for 30% of sales, according to Channel Vision - Version 2.0, a report published by design, marketing and print specialist Catalogues 4 Business (C4B).

For those employing e-commerce as well, a further 29% of sales were driven by the catalogue through their website.

C4B surveyed more than 100 UK organisations, both B2B and B2C, from a wide range of sectors and industries to assemble the study.

According to the report, 33% of respondents also said that sales through their catalogue for the past year are up on the previous year.

C4B managing director Ian Simpson said: "It’s great to see so many companies' sales figures increase from catalogues, they are an incredibly powerful marketing tool. Like most marketing activities, there must be a strategy in place to ensure that both sales and marketing are working together to maximise the output."

However, only 34% of respondents said that they used a catalogue as a sales channel. Of the companies that don't use a catalogue, 53% said a catalogue wasn't appropriate for their business. The report suggests that this shows that more work must be done to encourage the take-up of catalogues.

The report also highlighted the growing importance of digital marketing and social media, with 26% of businesses adding it to their marketing activities over the past year. The report found that companies which sell via a catalogue are far more likely to have a website with e-commerce, which in turn makes them more likely to deploy SEO and pay per click.

Simpson said: "Within today's digital era, people get fixated with the online world and forget that having something physical is a novelty and sometimes even preferred. Catalogues are one of the best ways to drive online traffic. It’s about integrating offline and online tactics."

The report also found that while B2B businesses might be expected to favour sites such as Linkedin for promoting their services, YouTube also featured highly among their preferences, with 46% saying it was relevant, compared with just 24% of B2C companies.