D. Tighe
Research expert covering consumer behavior, sporting goods retail, and the global toy industry.
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Globally, there are many direct selling companies specializing in numerous areas and providing various products from wellness supplements and cosmetics to household and home improvement items. Together, they generated some 173 billion U.S. dollars' worth of annual global retail sales in 2022, which is a noticeable drop compared to one year earlier. Direct selling companies specializing in wellness products make up over a third of the industry’s total sales, making it the largest direct selling product category. In the United States, the world’s largest direct selling market, the industry had seen a slight decline in retail sales in the last couple years, until 2020, when the country’s yearly direct sales jumped to 40 billion U.S. dollars. In 2021, U.S. sales amounted to nearly 43 billion U.S. dollars. That said, a decrease of about two billion dollars had been recorded in 2022. Furthermore, the size of the U.S. direct selling community, i.e., sellers and customers, had declined in similar fashion, amounting to less than 48 million people that year.Leading MLM companies
Some of the world's largest multi-level marketing and direct selling enterprises include the likes of eXp Realty, Natura &Co, COWAY, Nu Skin Enterprises, and PM-International, among others. The top direct selling companies in the United States are Amway and Herbalife. The largest of the two, Amway, generated about eight billion U.S. dollars in 2022 and offers a broad range of products, with nutritional items, cosmetics, and home goods accounting making up the vast majority of the company's sales. The second-largest company,
