Industry & companies
Direct selling
Selling products to consumers away from a fixed retail location, usually through independent sellers.
Direct selling is the umbrella term for selling in homes, at parties, online through personal networks or one-to-one, rather than in shops. Single-level direct selling pays only on personal sales; multi-level plans add overrides on recruits' sales.
Industry bodies report the sector in the tens of billions of dollars in the United States alone, with most participants working part-time. Revenue figures for the largest companies are in our database, with sources.