The Australian Business:
DIRECT selling is a retail channel for the distribution of goods and services.
At a basic level, it may be defined as marketing and selling products, person to person, away from a fixed retail location.
Sales are typically made through party plan and other personal contact arrangements. The two titans of the direct sales world are Tupperware or Pampered Chef.
Today Pampered Chef is a billion-dollar corporation that spans the US, Canada, Germany and Britain.
Sold to the Buffett-controlled Berkshire Hathaway in 2002, the company has about 60,000 independent sales reps who sell their wares at in-home kitchen parties under the head company’s umbrella, with 2008 revenues exceeding $US650 million ($1billion).
John Holloway, executive director of Australia’s Direct Selling Association (DSAA), says that while the essential characteristics of the traditional door-to-door selling model remain, new players have evolved using new technology.
“You have people like David Mills (The Chefs Toolbox) who have smartly adapted the ‘traditional’ model using the internet,” he said.
“An increasing proportion of business is being done online today. We are seeing the convergence of technologies affecting direct sales. Direct sales offers people a relatively low-cost entry when compared to the retail store model or a franchise.”
Photo by jenny downing