Unfortunately, this article omits some important context for the numbers quoted by the author. The increase in sellers has outpaced sales growth not because people are less successful, but because more people are now selling part-time (90%+ today vs. 81% a decade ago). More people working fewer hours results in comparatively slower sales growth. Additionally, many sign up only to buy products for themselves at a discount – they don’t contribute significantly to the sales figure, but each is counted as a seller. Just looking at the sales numbers in this case is meaningless unless you look at the reasons those changes have occured - which the reporter decided to omit.

Regarding start-up costs, few companies require inventory purchases, but Direct Selling Association members must have a buyback policy that refunds at least 90% of the purchase price of products and sales aids purchased in the past 12 months if someone decides to leave the business. No one should be left with unsold inventory.

Direct selling meets the needs of people with many different goals. Statistics don’t always tell the whole story.