Direct sales, also known as multi-level marketing, is a $3-billion business in Russia and growing fast, with companies like Amway, Avon, and Herbalife showing record sales results in 2010 and solid growth potential this year.
Amway, an American company that sells beauty, health and home-care products and has recruited an army of 930,000 individuals working as sales distributors, achieved sales of 15.2 billion rubles ($538 million) last year, beating its 2008 record of 14.9 billion.
“We had a very good year,†Amway chief financial officer Richard Stevens said last week.
Russia is the company’s biggest European market and is now home to nearly a third of its total worldwide sales force — with most of the sales activity taking place in Moscow.
Logo from Herbalife