Direct home sales are doing well

The French federation of the sector publishes encouraging figures, 4.5 billion euros in annual turnover, despite the difficult economic context.

There are two types of home sales: meeting sales with in-person product demonstrations, and network sales where the seller forms a community of users of a product or service. The brands are known, others a little less. The traditional Tupperware, the German Vorwerk in household appliances, Herbalife for food supplements, but also the energy company Engie which sells energy directly, Verisure, a security specialist, etc.

Direct home sales now represent 4.5 billion euros in annual turnover. And companies say they are optimistic for this year. The sector employs some 700,000 people. Before the sale, there are the companies, the brands, which themselves operate with staff. A sector which is also obliged to follow the major trends in consumption and product manufacturing.

Behind online or in-store purchases

The emblematic case of these transformations is Tupperware: the boxes and other bowls or containers are still airtight, but no more use of polyethylene. Polycarbonate is replaced by thermoplastic polyester which has similar properties, but without traces of bisphenol A. Customers are today much more demanding about the quality and origin of the product.

If it is not directly affected by the surge in prices, home sales are not spared from the consumption trends experienced by traditional commerce, in particular textiles which are encountering more difficulties, in the face of online purchases, on Internet. With stable growth, direct sales remain the third largest force in commerce after in-store and online sales. And this concept is not new. It was imported from the United States to France in 1908 with Singer sewing machines and Electrolux household appliances, quite a story.