Direct Selling
This article covers meaning & overview of Direct Selling from marketing perspective.
What is Direct Selling?
According to the World Federation of Direct Selling Associations, “direct selling is the marketing of products and services directly to consumers in a face to face manner, generally in their homes or the homes of others, at their workplace and other places away from permanent retail locations.” The salespersons are called direct sellers.
The products sold through this channel can be as diverse as cosmetics and skin care products, vacuum cleaners, household specialties; household cleaning products; food and nutrition products; toys, books and educational products.
Direct Selling may happen in one of two ways. The first is where the direct seller makes a demonstration to a large group of people (often called the Party Plan) and the second method is where the presentation in made on a person to person basis (one-to-one).
A majority of the direct sellers in companies are women partaking in direct selling as a part-time endeavor. Most often the direct sellers are not employees of the company but rather independent.
Advantages
● Direct sales allows for thorough explanation and personal demonstrations by the salesperson.
● It allows accessible business opportunities to people looking for alternative sources of income generally independent of their gender, age, education, or previous experience. It fosters the free market system and the entrepreneurial spirit in its direct salesman.
● It allows companies to bypass the traditional distributor network and sell directly to the customer thus saving on costs normally taken up by middlemen.
Success Story
Some of the companies that use the Direct Selling channel are Amway, Avon, Oriflame, Mary Kay, Eureka Forbes etc. However, one of the most famous success stories of direct selling was the Tupperware company.
Hence, this concludes the definition of Direct Selling along with its overview.
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