Direct Selling by the Numbers
Calendar Year 2010
The annual survey to size the direct selling industry in the US is fielded in Q1. Results are made available in approximately June of each year. Statistics for 2011 will be available in approximately June 2012.
Download the 2010 DSA Fact Sheet
Industry Statistics
(Calendar year 2010 unless otherwise noted)
Estimated 2010 U.S. Retail Sales
Estimated 2010 U.S. Salespeople
Growth Rate - Sales
Growth Rate - Salesforce
Retail Growth Rate Comparison
Percent of Sales by Major Product Groups
Location of Sales
Percent of Sales by Census Region
Types of Direct Sellers
Sales Strategy
Compensation Structure
Salesforce Demographics
Gender
Age
Ethnicity
Time Spent on Direct Selling
See data from prior years
Calendar year 2009
Calendar year 2008
Calendar year 2007
Calendar year 2006
Calendar year 2005
Calendar year 2004
Calendar year 2003
Calendar year 2002
Calendar year 2001
Calendar year 2000
Global Statistics
Click to view global statistics by country
| Estimated 2010 U.S. Direct Sales: | $28.56 Billion |
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| Estimated 2010 U.S. Salespeople | 16.1 Million |
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| 1-, 5- and 10-year growth rates (sales) |
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| 1-, 5- and 10-year growth rates (salesforce) |
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| Comparison with Retail Growth Rate (vertical axis = annual percent change) |
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Percent of Sales by Major Product Groups
| Home/Family Care/Home Durables (cleaning products, cookware, cutlery, etc.) |
24.4% |
| Wellness (weight loss products, vitamins, etc.) |
23.0% |
| Personal Care (cosmetics, jewelry, skin care, etc.) |
19.4% |
| Services/other | 19.2% |
| Clothing & Accessories | 11.0% |
| Leisure/Educational (books, videos, toys, etc.) |
3.0% |
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Location of Sales (reported as a percent of sales dollars)
| Face-to-Face Selling 80.1% | |
| Remote Selling by Sellers 11.5% | |
| Remote Selling by Companies 8.4% | |
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Percent of Sales by Census Region
| West | 26.5% |
| Midwest | 21.5% |
| Northeast | 16.4% |
| South | 35.6% |
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Sales Strategy
(method used to generate sales, reported as a percent of sales dollars)
| Individual/Person-to-Person selling | 63.5% |
| Party plan/group selling | 27.9% |
| Customer placing order directly with firm (in followup to a face-to-face solicitation) |
7.5% |
| Other | 1.1% |
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Compensation Structure
(multilevel vs. single level)
| Percent of firms | 93.1%/6.9% |
| Percent of Sales | 96.9%/3.1% |
| Percent of Sellers | 99.2%/0.8% |
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Gender
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Age
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Ethnicity
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Hours Spent on Direct Selling Per Week
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