Today, there are thousands of network marketing companies operating in the United States, Canada, Mexico, South America, the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Japan, and the Pacific Rim. Little Malaysia alone has over 800 active network marketing companies. Network marketing is reported to be a $45 billion dollar industry, internationally, made up of Fortune 500 companies and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
In 1993, Amway was the fastest growing foreign company in Japan, with sales exceeding one billion dollars. Discovery Toys sells its products solely through Network Marketing, with sales figures in excess of $100 million. Sprint, MCI and AT&T offer their long distance telephone services through Network Marketing companies. The AL Williams company used network marketing and stunned the insurance industry by outselling Prudential, an industry “giant,” in four short years.
Traditional sales method companies, such as Colgate-Palmolive and the Gillette Company, have Network Marketing affiliates. Rexall Drug now uses the Network Marketing distribution method with its subsidiary, Rexall Showcase. Network marketing companies like Melaleuca outperformed Liz Claiborne, The Limited, and John Paul Mitchell, while Nu Skin outperformed companies like Maybelline, Dow Chemical, and Matrix. Mary Kay is bigger than Johnson & Johnson, Amway is bigger than Revlon, and Avon is bigger than Estee Lauder. Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, is quoted as saying, “I’d rather have a profitable business in an unconventional industry than an unprofitable business in a conventional industry.”
Network marketing has also evolved in other ways. Businesses that started out as direct selling businesses now use network marketing compensation plans. Some examples include Avon, the $3 billion cosmetic giant, Watkins Products, which had been selling direct for almost 100 years before converting to network marketing, and even the Encyclopedia Britanica.
One of the reasons for the decline of direct selling is that, beginning in the 1970s, distributors who made calls to people realized that no one was home. Women, who had long been the backbone of direct sales customers, had entered the workforce, leaving few at home during the day. Companies observing these social trends quickly moved to revise their marketing plans toward network marketing, which allows for more informal sales methods and higher compensation.
Network marketing companies have pioneered entire industries: natural vitamin supplements, nutrition and diet beverages, concentrated and organic household cleaners. A network marketing company almost single-handedly created a billion dollar home water filtration business.
Rest assured, there are many more new companies and industries to come, with products and services that will surprise and amaze you as we move into the 21st century.