Multi-Level Marketing Statistics 2024 By Region, Salespeople Attitude, Revenue of Direct Selling, Demographics, Leading Markets, Profit Ratio and Revenue

Barry Elad

Updated · Jan 22, 2024

Multi-Level Marketing Statistics 2024 By Region, Salespeople Attitude, Revenue of Direct Selling, Demographics, Leading Markets, Profit Ratio and Revenue

Introduction

Multi-Level Marketing: In Multi-level marketing or direct marketing, the company incorporates a person-to-person selling strategy. In such cases, it has direct selling from the company to the consumer. Instead of any retail store, here there’s a one-person selling the product in a hierarchy pattern in terms of a commission. For example, if A company appoints E as their salesperson, and E appoints F, and so on, then the final sale generated by downline salespeople will help generate commission for the upper level in the line.

However, this strategy is somewhat wobbly as the company does not have enough information about the person selling the product. Let’s check out Multi Level Marketing Statistics to understand how functional this marketing strategy is in the current world.

Editor’s Choice

  • Direct sales representatives with more social networks are 45 times more likely to gain sales opportunities with a result of 51% likely achieving sales targets.
  • In 2023, the Multi-level Marketing / Direct selling market was valued at $211.55 billion and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.4% reaching $328.26 billion between 2023 to 2030.
  • Multi-level marketing statistics show that, by 2025, 65% of the market will be captured by the nutritional product category.
  • As of 2022, the Wellness category was the largest in terms of sales in the United States of America contributing 35%.
  • 72% of salespeople using social media to improve sales achieved better as compared to those who did not.
  • In 2022, there were 6.2 million Americans employed part-time in direct selling.
  • Most direct sales representatives are white by ethnic background resulting in 72.9%. 14.2% and 5.1% are contributed by Hispanic or Latinos and Asians respectively.
  • As per Multi Level Marketing Statistics 2022, Amway was the leading MLM-related company with $8,100 million of revenue generated from all over the world.
  • 1% of retail sales in the United States of America are approximately generated by the multi-level marketing industry.
  • Around 46% of Americans approve contact requests from direct sellers on their social media.

General Multi-Level Marketing Statistics

  • In 2023, the Multi-level Marketing / Direct selling market was valued at $211.55 billion and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.4% reaching $328.26 billion between 2023 to 2030.
  • 1% of retail sales in the United States of America are approximately generated by the multi-level marketing industry.
  • Every year, 90 to 99% of distributors receive a $100 commission.
  • Multi Level Marketing Statistics state that 99% of people who join this type of product-selling strategy lose their money.
  • On average, for each product sold a distributor is eligible to receive $9 profit.
  • As of 2022, there were 29.9 million people in the direct-selling market in the USA.
  • Furthermore, in 2022, there were 6.2 million Americans employed part-time in direct selling.
  • In the case of the monthly subscription category, the top reason for subscription for American shoppers was the service being free of charge.
  • In 2023, the direct sales market in the US was valued at $65.2 billion.
  • 90% of high-performing salespeople use social media as their sales strategy.
  • Direct sales representatives with more social networks are 45 times more likely to gain sales opportunities with a result of 51% likely achieving sales targets.
  • In the case of Multi-level marketing or direct selling, 93% of salespeople have no formal social selling training.
  • 72% of salespeople using social media to improve sales achieved better as compared to those who did not.
  • In MLM, 7% of sales representatives are 7 times more likely to announce going bankrupt.
  • As of June 2023, network marketing companies reported to employ 500,000 individuals every month to their MLM program in the USA.
  • Multi Level Marketing Statistics show that, by 2025, 65% of the market will be captured by the nutritional product category.
  • In 2023, Asia Pacific became the largest region in the market in terms of direct sales.
  • 96% of companies with direct selling strategies are more likely to fail in the initial 10 years.
  • Around 46% of Americans approve contact requests from direct sellers on their social media.
  • Compared to 90% of prospective customers not answering phone calls, 75% of buyers will make a purchase decision on social media advertising.
  • On average, it requires $25,000 to start up an MLM-based business.
  • Of all the MLM participants only 25% can earn a profile, whereas 48% go through financial losses.
  • Furthermore, of all the female sales representatives, 60% are without any experience in commission-based sales business.
  • In the USA, 1 out of 5 homes have an Amway product.
  • As of today, there are more than 10,000 companies that are only based on multi-level marketing or direct selling.
  • According to Multi Level Marketing Statistics, around $600 billion has been paid as a commission to the MLM program participants.

by Salespeople Attitude

  • 56% of direct salespeople are reported to work less than 10 hours a week.
  • 75% is the rate of dropping out of MLM programs in the first 365 days.
  • 39% of MLM people leave the company because they feel awkward selling products to their friends and family.
  • Surprisingly, Multi Level Marketing Statistics showed that 34% of sales representatives were employed based on referrals instead of the capacity of doing business.
  • Furthermore, 12% joined the program as a referral from family members without knowing the background of the MLM strategy.
  • 41% of salespeople in MLM reported that the sponsor deluded them into achieving higher financial status with false promises.
  • 66% of MLM people in sales have invested less than $1000, however, 24% have invested between $1000, to $4,999.
  • There are 11% sales people investing $5,000 or more.
  • As of today, around 70 million people are earning through commission-based sales by doing part-time or full-time direct selling.
  • An average salesperson earns $100 a week through direct selling.
  • Furthermore, in 2023, the monthly average income through MLM for a salesperson is $207.
  • The top performers of Amway sell more than $2 billion products a year.

by Product Type

product-category-sales-share-of-the-direct-selling-industry-in-the-united-states-in-2022

(Reference: statista.com)

In 2022 2022, as per Multi Level Marketing Statistics, the category of Wellness was the most popular by sales within the United States of America contributing 35 percent. Consumables and household goods contributed 14% and had the second-highest portion of sales. The top-selling categories included the financial sector, Cosmetics and personal hygiene, and Utilities.

by Revenue of Direct Selling

revenue-of-the-leading-direct-selling-companies-worldwide-in-2022

(Reference: statista.com)

As of 2022, a revenue of 8.1 billion was generated by Amway in comparison to worldwide direct-selling companies. Furthermore, Natura and Co. ($6.91 billion) and Herbalife Nutrition ($5.2 billion) were the highest revenue earners following Amway.

by Demographics

share-of-people-involved-in-direct-selling-in-the-united-states-in-2022

(Reference: statista.com)

According to Multi Level Marketing Statistics 2022, the direct selling industry is female-driven as there are 75% female sales representatives while male representatives contributed 25% in the USA.

By Education Level

Direct Sales Representatives By Degree Level:

Direct Sales Representative Degree Percentages
Bachelor’s 53%
Associate 19%
High School Diploma 16%
Master’s 4%
Other Degree’s 8%

(Source: zippia.com)

The majority of the MLM sales individuals have bachelor’s degrees resulting in 53%, followed by social and high school graduates at 19% and 16% respectively. Only 4% of them have master’s degrees.

By Age Group

direct-sales-consumers-of-different-age-groups

(marketsplash.com)

Overall, the commission-based sales business is made by people in all age groups, however, the majority of the MLM participants are aged between 35 to 44 years resulting in 25%, followed by 23% (45 to 54 years) and 22% (55 years above). Surprisingly, there are 9% of young entrepreneurs aged between 18 to 24 years.

By Ethnicity

direct-sales-representative-demographics-by-race

(Reference: zippia.com)

Most direct sales representatives are white by ethnic background resulting in 72.9%. 14.2% and 5.1% are contributed by Hispanic or Latinos and Asians respectively. Furthermore, only 0.3% of the representatives are American Indian and Alaska natives. 3.7% of them haven’t provided information on their ethnicity. 3.8% belong to African American or black background.

by Leading Direct Sales Companies by Revenue

global-revenue-of-the-leading-direct-sales-companies-in-the-united-states-in-2022.

(Reference: statista.com)

As per Multi Level Marketing Statistics 2022, Amway was the leading MLM-related company with $8,100 million of revenue generated from all over the world. Furthermore, Herbalife and eXp Realty also generated revenue of $5,200 and $4,600 million respectively.

By Country

Top-5-countries-based-on-direct-selling-revenue.

(Source: epixelmlmsoftware.com)

In the financial year 2022, the USA was the leading country based on direct selling revenue resulting in $40.5 billion. Furthermore, Korea and China were the largest in terms of revenue resulting in $18.4 billion and $15.8 billion respectively.

by Leading Markets

-share-of-the-leading-direct-selling-markets-worldwide-as-of-2022

(Reference: statista.com)

In 2022, the United States of America captured the largest direct-selling market in comparison to the global market by contributing 23%. Korea and Germany were the second and third largest markets having 11% and 10% share respectively. Taiwan, Mexico, and France generated 3%.

by Profit Ratio

earnings-distribution-among-mlm-participants-who-make-profit

(Reference: marketsplash.com)

Considering the experience in commission-based sales marketing, only 0.05% of people can earn $100,000 or more. However, the majority of the participants earn less than $5,000. On average, 12% of people will manage to earn $5,000 to $25,000 or more.

by Region

By Total Salesforce

direct-selling-salesforce-across-the-continents

(Reference: marketsplash.com)

According to Multi Level Marketing Statistics, the highest number of direct-selling individuals are located in the Asian region contributing 67.6 million. Even being the top market, the Americas is ranked second with a total 29.8 million of salespeople. Furthermore, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East have 12.6 million and 4.7 million MLM participants respectively.

By Brands

(Source: epixelmlmsoftware.com)

As of 2022, AVON was the leading direct company by salesforce in the USA WITH 6,400,000 salespeople in the line. Herbalife Nutrition (4,500,000) and Mary Kay (3,500,000) were other top 3 companies based on total salesforce.

By Top Earners

(Source: epixelmlmsoftware.com)

The Accuracy of Income Disclosure Statements

(Source: truelist.co)

Income disclosure for MLM participants is fairly accurate as stated by 50% of them in a survey conducted by The Balance Small business. Whereas 24% said it is fairly inaccurate. 16% voted for very accurate. On the other hand, 9% do not consider the company’s income disclosure statements as accurate at all.

Conclusion

Thus to conclude, Multi Level Marketing Statistics, although it may seem a promising business, majority of the individuals will quit selling within a year. This business has no boss breathing down your neck, but salespeople have some initial investments in the company’s products that may lead to huge losses in case of failure in running the business.

As stated, 7% of people are more likely to declare bankruptcy. There are multiple renowned companies with similar products. Interested individuals should initially do research and gain experience in managing such businesses.

FAQ.

Should I get into the MLM business?

MLM businesses are suitable for people who have sales experience or selling spirit in their attitude. It has been a common practice in developing countries that if a woman is a housewife then she will just invest some amount of money in such businesses and after a few months lose interest in doing so because of no business. To gain profit for your living, your language should be convincing. You must know how to explain the product to the person you are selling. And research is a must before getting into any of these businesses.

Is Multi-level marketing business risky?

Yes, a multi-level marketing business / direct selling or commission-based sales could be dangerous. Entering into such a business without knowing about the company or having any experience will lead to losses. Such cases are often observed in referrals, as salespeople will keep referring their family and friends to join the program.

What is the average profit generated from MLM business?

As of 2024, the average performer can earn up to $45,446 years making it $3,787 monthly.

Is MLM business legal in the USA?

Yes. MLM businesses are legal everywhere, however, some people may turn them into scams. Thus precaution in such cases is necessary.

Barry Elad
Barry Elad

Barry is a lover of everything technology. Figuring out how the software works and creating content to shed more light on the value it offers users is his favorite pastime. When not evaluating apps or programs, he's busy trying out new healthy recipes, doing yoga, meditating, or taking nature walks with his little one.

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