Kingdom Keys Bookmarking Blog

The ever increasing connectivity of cyberspace puts consumers directly in touch with producers and a transaction takes place. The middle man (distributor?) is left out and the residual income turns into a residue.

Some good attempts have been made to leverage the power of a well thought out website to support a network of distributors. Product demonstration and training videos, taking orders and signing up new members online was impressive but what was the benefit of dealing with Tom, Dick or Harry when they are all selling the same product or service? The stigma of network marketing and the competition between distributors was such that recruiters had to conceal the name of their network until the end of the business presentation where they might hopefully sign-up a convert.

The vast majority of network marketers are women because the mums' economy makes them much more connected than men. Besides, who does the shopping in your home? "I'll buy your hand cream to support your fledging home business because it's good and I like it and because you'll bring it to me next time I see you picking up the kids at school. I probably could buy a similar thing cheaper at the store but you might do me a favour as I know I can call on you to bring my child home if I'm stuck at the office or in the traffic..." Men just don't get a chance to match that sort of arrangement.

There is a high cost for gaining each new customer therefore it needs to be offset by distributing consumable goods which can be sold over and over again as they run out.

Furthermore there are issues with home delivery as major retailers have found out at their own expense. It might be OK to salivate over a pizza that's arriving anytime soon now but ordering your groceries online and having it delivered to your door is fraught with danger. You have no idea at what time of the day or night the truck might show-up. The dog next door licks your meat and the ice-cream melts in the sun.

Extended trading hours in shopping centres have cancelled out the appeal of the personal service from a distributor. Besides there are scores of things (the majority?) you can't buy through network marketing. You'll have to go to the shops anyway. There you can touch, smell, taste and compare - try doing that through a catalogue!

Customer loyalty has gone out the window. In fact studies have shown that a satisfied customer is very likely to go and try something else - people like variety and so you are wasting your time trying to pamper people who will fall at the next stimulation.

Network marketing had its day since Amway the grand-daddy of them all was found to be a respectable business by the FTC in the 1970s. People no longer buy encyclopaedias - you can find Wikipedia online for free. You might try to join the Amazon affiliate program but why would people want to land on your website where you can only promote a handful of items?

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