Direct selling is a business model that involves a party of people
buying products from a parent organization and selling them directly to customers. It can take the form of either single-level marketing (in which a direct seller makes money purely from sales) and
multi-level marketing
Multi-level marketing (MLM), also called network marketing or pyramid selling, is a controversial and sometimes illegal marketing strategy for the sale of products or services in which the revenue of the MLM company is derived from a non-salarie ...
(in which the direct seller may earn money from both direct sales to customers and by sponsoring new direct sellers and earning a commission from their efforts).
According to the US
Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) United States antitrust law, antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. It ...
: "Direct selling is a blanket term that encompasses a variety of business forms premised on person-to-person selling in locations other than a retail establishment, such as social media platforms or the home of the salesperson or prospective customer."
Modern direct selling includes sales made through the
party plan
The party plan is a method of marketing products by hosting what is presented as a social event at which products will be offered for sale. It is a form of direct selling. The primary system for generating sales leads for home party plan sales ...
, one-on-one demonstrations, and other personal contact arrangements as well as
internet sales
E-commerce (electronic commerce) refers to commercial activities including the electronic buying or selling products and services which are conducted on online platforms or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile comm ...
. Some sources have defined direct selling as "the direct personal presentation, demonstration, and sale of products and services to consumers, usually in their homes or at their jobs".
[Michael A. Belch George E. Belch ''Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective'', 7/e., McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2006]
See also
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Account-based marketing
Account-based marketing (ABM), also known as key account marketing, is a strategic approach to business marketing based on account awareness in which an organization considers and communicates with individual prospect or customer accounts as ma ...
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Direct marketing
Direct marketing is a form of communicating an offer, where organizations communicate directly to a Target market, pre-selected customer and supply a method for a direct response. Among practitioners, it is also known as ''direct response ...
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Guanxi
''Guanxi'' () is a term used in Chinese culture to describe an individual's social network of mutually beneficial personal and business relationships. The character ''guan'', 关, means "closed" and "caring" while the character ''xi'' 系 mean ...
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Lead generation
In marketing, lead generation () is the process of creating consumer interest or inquiry into the products or services of a business. A lead is the contact information and, in some cases, demographic information of a customer who is intereste ...
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Lead management
Lead management is a set of methodologies, systems, and practices designed to generate new potential business clientele, generally operated through a variety of marketing campaigns or programs. Lead management facilitates a business's connection b ...
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Personal selling
Personal selling occurs when a sales representative meets with a potential client for the purpose of transacting a Sales, sale. Many sales representatives rely on a sequential sales process that typically includes nine steps. Some sales represen ...
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Relationship marketing
Relationship marketing is a form of marketing developed from direct response marketing campaigns that emphasizes customer retention and satisfaction rather than sales transactions. It differentiates from other forms of marketing in that it ...
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Social selling
Social selling is the process of developing relationships as part of the sales process. Today this often takes place via social networks such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest, but can take place either online or offline. Examples of ...
References
External links
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