The Direct Sales and Multilevel Marketing sectors boom. The turnover tripled in Europe in the past ten years, from 13 billion € in 2007 to 32 billion € in 2017. The actual industry report “Direct Sales 2017”, issued by the Austrian chamber of economy, reveals not only the development in Austria, but compares the results also with international benchmarks.
In the US, 6 % of the population are engaged in Direct Sales, in Austria it is only 0,2 %. There is enough room for new and motivated business partners to start and earn good money. It might pay out as there are not that many business models that grow comparably quick.
About 75 % of the independent product consultants in Direct Sales in Austria are female. Up to last year I thought that that´s typical for this kind of business. In fact it is not. I learned during an international Multilevel-Marketing Convention that e.g. in Spain and Portugal there are significantly more men than women in this business because they are convinced it is a great opportunity to become successful.
Looking at sectors: Multilevel Marketing companies are especially successful if offering nutrition, cosmetics, wellness, health related products, household goods and costume jewellery. In these areas, individual consultancy in a nice atmosphere is especially valued, the repurchase rate is high with up to 75% (!).
62 % of customers are female, 22 % are families and 16 % are men. This is due to the fact that decision makers in these categories are mainly women.
The satisfaction with this profession is impressive: a survey amongst 1.443 product consultants showed that 94 % are very satisfied or at least satisfied with their job. 9 % are less satisfied and nobody claimed to be not satified. This is a result that other sectors might just dream of.
The average income in Multilevel Marketing is around € 1.035 per month for parttimers. Those that run the business fulltime manage to earn average € 6.415 per month. And there is another really interesting finding: Men earn on average about 500 €/month more than their female colleagues. The business rules as well as terms and conditions are the same for both genders, but obviously men are smarter in focussing on the what counts factors to increase the income.
Would be worth to run an in depth analysis why women perform weaker than men, even in this business model that provides same chances for everyone, no matter if men or women, old or young, high educated or low – the result is the only thing that counts.
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Kathrin Kränkl
Clara Langthaler-Kränkl
