Industry News
January 2011
Letter from America
Happy New Year! It is always exhilarating to close a year and start anew. For those who celebrated closing 2010 with growth and positive momentum, we salute you! You are an inspiration for all! To all of you who are part of the direct selling way of doing business, we know that there are more than 16 million independent business owners, and millions of prospective business owners, who will be looking to you and your companies as their vehicles for renewal in 2011.
The stories we wrote this past year will certainly be remembered because they reflected a changing and evolving way of serving consumers and supporting independent contractors. We experienced what has most assuredly been one of the most challenging economic climates of a lifetime. Direct sellers were challenged—and will continue to be challenged—to respond to a very different marketplace. Both the consumer and the prospective distributor are very carefully evaluating the value proposition of our industry. Looking forward, we anticipate bringing you some of the perspectives we are gathering about changes that are taking place, which can fuel growth or be potential barriers to it.
All of us recognize that technology and its use have certainly become a game changer; however, we may be experiencing other game changers as well (e.g., consumer behaviors, perceptions of the direct selling business model and new e-commerce players who emulate direct selling in much of their behavior without an independent salesforce). These are certainly interesting times, and the pace of change is far greater than any we have experienced before. It all makes for good stories as well as good reporting, and we look forward to bringing you both.
The process of identifying the DSN Global 100 companies for 2010 has now started. This will be our second year of conducting the research and ranking the top 100 companies in the industry globally. Many academics, private equity investors and key players in direct selling companies all agreed that the ranking (never conducted prior to last year) was essential and a great step toward helping all interested entities better understand the magnitude and breadth of the companies’ impacts on lives around the globe. We encourage you to have the appropriate person within your company email and submit your 2010 data instead of waiting for our writers and researchers to make contact.
The DSN Global 100 banquet on April 27, 2011, in Dallas, will reflect information received by April 8. The final DSN Global 100 ranking for 2010 will be published in the June issue of Direct Selling News.
Moving into another year, we have many reasons for our high level of optimism. Most important, as we continue to write your stories this year, we always take pride in writing about the decision makers who help all kinds of people enjoy a better quality of life. For these reasons, we look forward to continuing to serve all of you who make this industry possible!
Until next month! Enjoy the issue!
John Fleming
Publisher and Editor in Chief
