The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) study focused on usage of Royal Mail but identified several trends of potential concern to commercial printers.

A massive 86% of businesses use the internet and email for transactions that would have gone through Royal Mail five years ago.

According to the BCC study, 53% use paperless billing more than they did five years ago, while only 3.5% use it less, with the rest recording no change in their usage pattern.

The biggest reason for the increase in paperless billing was the improved technology, with 76.5% of respondents citing this as a factor.

However, 49% also said they had made a conscious decision to use less paper, 48% said it was to save money, and 30% said it was because of the unreliability of Royal Mail.

Even move damning for the postal operator, more than two-thirds of respondents said Royal Mail was not a "professional and efficient organisation to deal with", and 31% said they planned to use a competitor in the future.