A few weeks ago, the World Federation of Direct Selling Associations (WFDSA) published its 2023 worldwide industry statistics. How did the industry in general do last year? How it has been doing in the last few years? Which markets outpace others, and which ones lag?
Let’s find the answers to these questions and look at other growth trends between the 2019-2024 period.
Global Growth Trend in the Last Five Years
As the table below shows, growth in both the retail sales and the number of independent direct seller have stalled in the last two years. Is is worth noting that the downward trend in the number of direct sellers is steeper.
Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in these two metrics since 2019 is 0.2% in retail sales and -1.2% in the number of representatives.
Profile of Direct Sellers
As the WFDSA’s report shows there has been a slow but consistent increase in the number of men among the independent representative. That said, the industry is still being driven by female direct sellers (70%).
As far as the age groups are concerned, those between the ages 35 and 54 make up the largest group (49%). 26% of the direct sellers are below the age of 35.
Direct Selling’s Penetration
This interesting analysis shows the volume generated by direct selling divided by that country’s GDP.
Top ten countries here are: Malaysia, Korea, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Taiwan, Germany, Thailand, and Mexico. In Malaysia, this rate was 2.3% in 2023. In the US, the largest market by volume this was 13%.
Global Direct Selling by Regions
Sales
Asia/Pacific region accounted for 40% of the global direct sales in 2023. It was followed by Americas (37%), Europe (22%), and Africa/Middle East (1%).
During the 2019-2023 period, Europe had the highest growth (8.6%) by 2023 constant USD. Americas’ growth was 6.8%. Asia/Pacific region was down 7.2%, and Africa/Middle East was down 22.5%.
Direct Sellers
Asia/Pacific had the highest share of representatives in 2023. 57% of the world’s direct sellers were in this region. 27% of them were in Americas, 12% in Europe, and 4% in Africa/Middle East.
Asia/Pacific was also the only region where the number of representatives increased between 2019-2023. The growth here was 2.8%. The decrease was 10.2% in Europe, 11.2% in Americas, and 368% in Africa/Middle East.
Regional Overviews
Asia-Pacific
Korea is this region’s largest market with USD 16 billion sales in 2023. Annual change in Korea was -11%, though. Sales in 2023 in China, the second largest market in the region, were flat.
Kazakhstan (30.4%), India (11.8%), New Zealand (6.7%), Taiwan (3.3%), and Malaysia (1.4%) were the countries that reported sales volume growth.
At the bottom of this ranking was Australia. Direct sales in Australia decreased by 35.8% in 2023. Australia’s 2019-2023 CAGR was disappointing, too (-15%).
Europe
Germany’s USD 20 billion sales in 2023 makes it the largest direct selling market in Europe. The sales volume produced there is four times that of France, which is this regions’ second largest. Sales in Germany grew by 7% in 2023, and 3-year CAGR was in this country.
France reported flat sales growth in 2023. Italy was down by 0.3%, Russia -7.3%, UK -10%. These were the four largest markets that followed Germany in market size in 2023.
Americas
This region’s largest market is the US with its USD 37 billion sales generated last year. The US accounted for roughly 60% of the sales in the region. Annual change in 2023 was -9.5%, and 3-year CAGR was -2.9%.
The second and the third largest markets here are Brazil (USD 8 billion), and Mexico (USD 7 billion). Both markets reported sales increases in 2023: Brazil 4.6% and Mexico 3%.
Africa/Middle East
Sales in this region fell 4% in 2023 and 22.5% since 2019. Total volume generated in Africa/Middle East was USD 1.3 billion.
South Africa is region’s largest direct selling market with USD 434 million sales. Sales in South Africa fell by 13.2% in 2023 and 3-year CAGR was -9.8%.
Product Categories
The three largest product categories remained the same in 2023. Wellness was the largest category with its 32% share. It was followed by cosmetics and personal care (24%), and household goods and durables (17%).
These three categories accounted for 73% of global direct sales. Yet their individual shares changed considerably since 2019: In 2019, wellness category’s share was 36%, cosmetics and personal care’s 27%, and household goods and durables’ 12%.
Wellness category is the strongest in Asia/Pacific region (39%), and the weakest in America’s (27%). The three countries where this category is the strongest in Asia/Pacific are India (74%), Hong Kong (70%), and Indonesia (68%). On the other hand, in Brazil, the wellness category’s share is only 6%.
Americas is where cosmetics is the strongest (29%) and this category does not do so well in Asia/Pacific (17%). In Brazil, cosmetics accounted for 73% of total direct sales in 2023. In fact, in South and Central American markets, this category’s share is 59%.
Click for WFDSA’s global statistics.
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Hakki Ozmorali is the Founder of WDS Consultancy, a management consulting and online publishing firm in Canada, specialized in providing services to direct selling firms. WDS Consultancy is the publisher of The World of Direct Selling, global industry’s leading weekly online publication since 2010. Hakki Ozmorali is an experienced professional with a strong background in direct sales. His work experiences in direct selling include Country and Regional Manager roles at various multinationals. You can contact Hakki here.
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