Starting a business can often be an overwhelming task in India. With the advent of media and multiple perspectives, everyone tends to have an opinion. While freedom of expressing one’s opinion has empowered people to share their ideas, it has also opened the gates for misrepresentation.
One such instance is the misunderstanding of traditional business and direct selling. Often people misinterpret direct selling as some form of door-to-door selling. Or it is also misunderstood as a gimmick or a pseudo terminology used to mislead people. However, the truth is far from it. Direct selling is a flourishing industry in the country, which has been empowering individuals with employment opportunities and sustenance.
In this article, we’ll be reviewing the differences between traditional business vs direct selling.
Traditional Business vs Direct Selling
Traditional business and direct selling might seem similar at a glance. It might even seem like one is a subset of another. But there are many differences that separate one from the other. Here are the three most prominent differences between these two forms of businesses –
1) Presence of a shop/ store
Most traditional businesses often have a physical contact point. This means that they are run through a shop or a store. The store caters to the business’s target audience with specific products and services which can be bought at the store. Some of them might even have a short shelf life. But in most cases, shops and retail stores drive traditional businesses.
Direct selling, on the other hand, doesn’t require a store. Most direct sellers are associated with a direct selling company that handle their products. This may include packing, delivery and fulfilling orders. Direct selling is highly beneficial for individuals who want to start a business without spending much on renting or leasing a store. Furthermore, it takes away the hassle of following up on product fulfilment.
Another potential benefit of a direct selling business was seen during the pandemic. When most stores were shut down and had to incur huge losses, direct selling businesses continued to cater to their audience without the struggles of it being driven by a store. Now, this is often done through an e-commerce platform or a website where customers place orders. And all a direct seller is required to do is make sales and promote the products.
2) Method of marketing
Traditional businesses market products and services through traditional marketing. This may include offline marketing channels such as creating collateral such as leaflets, banners and standees. Traditional businesses can also opt to go online by placing marketing materials on digital platforms and even creating marketing campaigns on Google, Facebook etc.
Direct selling does not use traditional marketing methods, so one does not need to create leaflets or post ads in any format. Direct selling is driven by network marketing, which implies that direct sellers create networks. Direct sellers present the direct selling opportunity or products and services directly to customers without the presence of a middleman. This also means that it is mostly contingent on word-of-mouth sales.
While presenting the opportunity, the direct seller can build a sales team. This is another way for a direct seller to grow his/her business. The sales team includes other direct sellers who would grow their business. The growth of their business would also result in the growth of the direct seller’s business.
Now, another benefit of being associated with a direct selling company is that an individual does not have to invest time and effort into establishing a position for the product. So, the direct seller does have to worry about the marketing mix. The entire marketing stream, including positioning, branding and targeting of the product is done by the direct selling company.
This again comes across as a major difference between traditional marketing and direct selling business.
3) Earning Commissions
One of the major drawbacks of starting a traditional business is the requirement of major investments. Now, these investments are subject to cash burn. So, even before a company can start realizing profits, they might have to incur losses, which would go into supporting their business. This is largely eliminated in the direct selling business. The direct seller does have to worry about the sustenance of the business and cash burn.
Another particular model that highly benefits direct sellers is the potential of earning commissions. We briefly touched upon the idea of direct sellers building sales teams. Direct sellers can further earn commissions when their sales team promote products and make sales. These are generally called step commissions.
The concept of commissions and, in specific, step commissions is usually missing from traditional businesses. Thus, this is again a lesser-known concept for most business owners. One that could highly benefit direct sellers in the long run and help them create a stable source of income.
So, these are the major differences between traditional business vs direct selling. But here is one of the best direct selling companies in India that offer individuals a chance to start their own direct selling business.
QNET Direct Selling
QNET is a leading direct selling company that has been in the industry for over 23 years. It offers a world-class range of products and services through its e-commerce platform. The company further offers enterprising individuals an opportunity to become direct sellers. The individuals can promote QNET’s products and services and receive compensation based on its competitive compensation plan.
Direct selling is often an unknown domain for many individuals. When I was initially trying to start, I was quite unaware of the industry. In fact, I had my fair share of inhibitions. However, with time I was able to understand the potential of the business and how I could benefit from it in the long run. It all started with me dispelling all predispositions about the industry and starting afresh.
One of the most important things I had to understand and apply was the difference in approach of direct selling business. Over the years, I was able to turn this opportunity into a means of regular cash flow. This has given me a chance to become financially independent. And I am positive that this opportunity can also benefit a lot more individuals for taking that step towards starting their own business and becoming successful.
I hope this article has provided perspective by highlighting the major differences between traditional business vs direct selling. If you’d like to learn more about QNET direct selling or their amazing range of products, visit – QBuzz India.