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Amway takes concrete steps to triple its turnover in next decade
Key Highlights:
- Amway to add 8 more products to its existing product lines
- Decides to explore newer avenues like the experience stores and e-commerce to increase turnover
- Plan to launch an app with no tie-up with the existing e-tailers like Flipkart or Amazon
DELHI : One of the leading and oldest FMCG direct selling company ,Amway plans to add new product lines especially targeted for Indian customers in 2016 . This will likely result in a double-digit growth in FY17 in cookware, health, nutrition and skin care segments showing India’s importance for the parent as per the reports from Edelweiss.

The report also said that Amway plans to triple its turnover by 2025.

Currently in terms of growth rate India is considered amongst the top four markets. This new strategy is expected to figure India amongst the top three in the coming five years. The market growth in Japan for Amway has been at 2% and Korea at 5%. Other global markets like Brazil, Malaysia, Mexico and some pockets in the US have shown good double-digit growth whereas market in Thailand has been flat.

Bhuvan Kapur, Amway vice president (north), said that the company would add 8 more products this fiscal year.Currently, Amway has over 140 products in five major categories –personal care, nutrition & wellness, cosmetics, home care, and great value products. 70% of their revenue is credited to the first two categories of product.

As per the report Nutrilite, which constitutes 50% of the company’s turnover in India, has recently taken Farhan Akhtar as their brand ambassador. The report also stated that the company has also set aside INR 1 billion for setting up 10 to 12 experience stores. These stores are said to be in partnership with Microsoft and will be utilized to showcase its range of products to distributors, business partners and customers.

Beside this Amway also has e-commerce presence through its existing website and is said to contribute about 30-35% of the total Indian sales. The company also aims to take this number to 55% in next ten years. In the other global markets like the US and South Korea, the company’s online sale constitutes about 70 -80% of sales and the company is setting these countries as their benchmark.

Further the company also has plans to launch an app in coming months and has no plans to tie-up with the existing e-tailers like Flipkart or Amazon and plans to remain a B2B player said the report.

The company is committed to manufacturing all its products locally following the Government’s “Make in India” campaign in India and has also set up its manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu.

The report also confirmed that it currently has five million independent agents and it plans to increase this number to 18 million in the coming next ten years.

About Amway:

Amway, earlier known as The American Way, is an American company founded in 1959 by Jay Van Andel and Richard DeVos. It uses a multi-level marketing model to sell its products. Its product lines include home care products, personal care products, jewelry, electronics, Nutrilite dietary supplements, water purifiers, air purifiers, insurance, and cosmetics. Amway has its global presence in more than hundred countries around the world.In 2012 Amway ranked No.26 amongst the largest private companies in the US by Forbes.
Federal Trade Commission rules out Herbalife as a pyramid scheme
Key Highlights:
- Herbalife to pay US$200 million in settlement of complaints of misrepresentation
- The company to restructure its compensation plan
- Distributor to be paid based on actual retail sales
NEW YORK – The U.S. Federal Trade Commission cleared Herbalife, a direct sales nutrition company, of the allegation of being an illegal pyramid scheme.

However, said that the company has been strictly instructed to pay the US$200 million in settlement of complaints made by its consumers of deceiving them over the potential gain of selling their products.

The decision has brought a sigh of relief for Herbalife , which has been facing allegation and accusation from powerful Wall Street activist investors including Carl Icahn and Bill Ackman. The news has been welcomed by its investors, sending its shares up by 15 percent in morning trading

The investigation by FTC mainly focused on the multi-level structure of the people buying Herbalife’s products and recruiting further people to redistribute them. This as per the FTC only created a chain of distributors which however was not a clear evidence of any actual retail demand of their products.

Herbalife was charged with tricking consumers into believing that they could make a substantial profit by selling their products in the market. FTC further charged Herbalife that its compensation structure fundamentally paid its distributors for recruiting more distributors and did not actually relate to retail demand.

The average amount earned by its distributors in 2014 was under US$300; with the false promise of future earnings of thousands of dollars, each month said FTC.

As per the settlement, Herbalife has been instructed to restructure its compensation plan in such a ways that it rewards actual retails sales of its products to customers.

As per the settlement, Herbalife will pay US$200 which will go to distributors in Herbalife’s “Nutrition Club” who claim to have brought a large volume of products and incurred loss. FTC said that it is a case of misrepresentation. Herbalife also agreed to change some of its business practices and will have to prove that its number for the retail sales are hundred percent precise. According to the company’s statement, its distributors will now be paid based on actual retail sales and not for buying the product for their own private use. Also going forward its distributors will be required to produce actual receipts of retail sales in order to be paid. As per the company, it will now rely on a mobile app which will facilitate in tracking sales and distribution more closely.

Edith Ramirez, FTC Chairwoman said, “Herbalife is going to have to start operating legitimately, making only truthful claims about how much money its members are likely to make.”

However in a statement, Herbalife claimed that many of the FTC’s allegations were “factually incorrect” and said that the terms it agreed to “do not change Herbalife’s business model as a direct selling company.”

About Herbalife:

Herbalife International is an American direct selling company established in 1980. It mainly develops markets and sells nutritional supplements, weight management, sports nutrition and personal care products. The company’s nutrition, weight management, energy and fitness and personal care products are available solely to and through Independent Herbalife distributors. Currently, it has its global presence in more than 90 countries.
Safeguarding against online part time jobs scam
Key highlights:
- How to differentiate a legitimate and a scam online data entry jobs
- Steps to follow before starting a data entry job
Today with the growing use of technology and internet, it has become very easy for many scam artists to scam innocent people online. If you have been lured into an easy money-making schemes online, then it is very important that you make yourself aware of the online scams that are present in the data entry industry today.

It is also very vital for you to recognize such scams in order to keep your income safe in the long-term. It is very easy to fall prey to such scams in a world where the inflation is increasing every day and it becomes difficult to meet everyday expenses.

Differentiating a data entry scams from legitimate data entry jobs takes careful research and common sense. It is simply common sense that low-skill jobs can never pay a big amount of money and money made from legitimate data entry works is typically low. A careful study will help you find a legitimate work-at-home opportunity.

One of the ways to check the legitimacy of the company offering the data entry jobs is the fact that reputable companies always offer low rates. Any lofty promises with their real life stories about how the data entry job has changed their life could possibly be a scam. It is therefore very important that you make yourself aware of all the data entry job scams before you decide to work in this field.

The reason why scammers choose data entry jobs to trick people is because it is very difficult to find the legitimacy of a company which offers online date entry work. More often than not, a data entry jobs from home will not have a high payout structure since there is no dearth of online workers. However, there are some well-paying jobs in the field of data entry, such as medical transcription. But simple data entry work which requires no technical skills are generally low paying.

Another point that you need to keep in mind, is that no legitimate data entry company will ask you to make payment for their registration and the training they provide. Hence all jobs that require you to pay to get registered and then start working are basically scams. If you are already familiar with the data entry industry and have worked with one earlier there will be no problem in differentiating a scammer and a legitimate company. The problem arises if you are fairly new to this field.

We are practically living in a cyber era and almost all companies have digital ways of doing their data entry works. It is very strange for a reliable and reputable company to sell-out thousands of dollars for its data entry work. Today technology has advanced so much that most of the companies enter their required data through some software or other digital ways. Even if a company do manual data entry it is but obvious that they will not pay much for such a simple job.

There is no doubt that there are a lot of scam data entry job, but there are also legitimate companies that offer genuine data entry work. Various medical transcription companies are into data entry job and are reliable. Other jobs available in the field of data entry is the ad posting. In Ad posting, one has to post Ads on different websites and these jobs are available without investment. No investment is needed for a genuine data entry and Ad posting jobs.

Some of the key steps that you should follow to identify some data entry scams are discussed below.
- Research the reputation of the company you have decided to work for. Google can be very helpful in getting important information about the company since it will give you maximum exposure in the right way.
- There are companies who claim to be ISO certified and use the name of the certificate to show people that they are legitimate. It is important to cross check their certification number before falling into the trap.
- The company should have verified official contact details so that you can contact them in the fastest possible time. An official website with the details of the kind of work they offer, their office location, the names of their clients show the transparency of the company, and a legitimate company would have all these details for everyone to easily see.
- A very important thing to do before you decide to work for any data entry jobs is to verify the physical address. If the company puts up an incorrect address for its office it is but obvious that it is a scam and you should totally avoid working for such company.
- Also, it is important to verify the landline number. Most of the scammers do not provide any landline number on their website, and even if they do it is generally a fake number.
- Always check the ranking of the data entry jobs website in Google and Alexa. Google will give you the page rank which will give you the idea of the popularity of that particular page, and the Alexa ranking is a tool to measure the popularity of the complete website.
- For further information, you must ask questions to the company and ensure you know as much as possible about their services.
- Make sure that the mode of payment the company offer is convenient and flexible. Ensure that company is an experienced and reputed one.
These fraud data entry jobs are planned very cleverly so as to make people dream of earning $400 to $500 per month by just spending a few hours at their convenient time. Such a thing does not happen and we should use our common sense and judgment wisely in order to safeguard our interest and money from such scammers. Keeping in mind the above points and being more aware is the only way to do so.
Network Marketing/MLM market in New Delhi, India, to triple in next 9 years
Key Highlights:
- Guidelines on direct selling/networking marketing in final stage
- Network marketing to reach Rs.15-20 billion by 2025
- Direct selling industry/network marketing directly in line with the Government’s ‘Make in India’ campaign.
New Delhi, 5 July (Networkingeye): As per the reports from FICCI – KPMG on Tuesday, June 28, 2016, the market size of the Direct Selling/ network marketing Industry in the capital city, New Delhi, has the potential of reaching Rs. 15-20 billion by 2025

The report, titled, ‘Direct Selling: Delhi – A Global Industry, Empowering Millions’ — attributes the growing income of the middle-class households, growth in the consumer markets and an increase in the infiltration of direct selling/ network marketing to globally comparable levels as main reasons for the growth of this industry.

Chandralekha Malviya, Principal Advisor, Ministry for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said “We acknowledge the contribution of this industry and we have worked hard on preparing the guidelines for the industry. It is in the final stages of approvals and will be released very soon.”

As per the report, the direct selling/network marketing industry in India is currently considered to be at Rs. 7,500 crores and between 2009-10 and 2013-14, New Delhi was the fastest growing direct selling/ network marketing states at a compound annual growth rate of 43 percent.

Besides being the fastest growing, New Delhi has also recorded the double-digit growth of more than 16 percent over the past four years, which has attracted a large number of Indian and foreign direct selling/ network marketing companies.

The report further added that the state has seen a continuous growth in the number of direct sellers/ network marketing in the year 2013-2014. More than 250,000-300,000 direct sellers were estimated to be engaged in the industry and this number is only expected to grow further as the industry expands.

The report affirmed that the direct selling/ network marketing industry has assisted in providing self-employment opportunities and supported women empowerment. Nearly 145,000-175,000 female direct sellers got the opportunity of self-employment in 2013-14, through direct selling/ network marketing industry.

The report added that the direct selling industry/network marketing has also contributed to the overall growth and technology percolation which is mainly due to its sourcing manufacturing capabilities of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the state and is directly in line with the Government’s ‘Make in India’ campaign.

Stressing on the growth contributors, the report suggests that the industry has the potential for greater penetration.

A robust gross domestic product (GDP), an increase in the household income that is expected to triple by 2025, rapidly growing urbanization, and overall growth of the industry in key sectors such as health and wellness, cosmetics, household goods, many of which are expected to grow at 10-16 percent, are considered to be the other growth factors of direct selling/ network marketing industry.

The report also emphasized on the series of immediate short terms reforms as well long terms measures that are required for a favorable and sustainable operating environment in India for the companies operating in direct selling/ network marketing industry.

Chief Executive of Vestige Marketing, Anukul Agrawal, said “We are very encouraged to learn from Consumer Affairs Ministry that the guidelines will be issued very soon. Direct selling industry will strictly follow the guidelines.”
Are you part of a Legitimate Network Marketing / MLM Company or Pyramid Scheme?
Key Highlights:
- General notion about the network marketing /multi-level marketing/direct selling industry
- Understand how to differentiate legitimate and fraudulent network marketing company
As the world is progressing in technology and automation, there are also other developments and business models that are coming up which promise to help individual build their own system for residual income. Yes, we are talking about network marketing, famously infamous as multi-level marketing (MLM). Fortunately or unfortunately many network marketing companies have been under the spotlight lately for all the wrong reasons, wrong situations or false allegations.

Network marketing or multi-level marketing (MLM), is a system of retailing, in which the products and services of a company are sold by independent representatives. Generally, network marketing or a multi-level marketing company will encourage its individual representatives to build and manage their own sales force by adding distributors/business partners, keeping them motivated and training them to sell the products or services

Although the biggest advantage of network marketing is the opportunity to earn and make a good amount of residual income, it is important to understand that it is not a get rich quick scheme or get rich easily scheme. It is complete hard work and can become a full-time job if done with dedication and honesty.

There is also a general notion that anything resembling a pyramid is a scam or not completely a legitimate business. But what we forget is that every profitable and sustainable business model in the world works on a pyramid structure. A company is headed by one CEO under whom there are 3-4 VP’s , under the VP’s there are 9-10 DGM and so on. Even our Government is structured in a pyramid – One President, under him his Ministers and so forth. Every strong structure is a pyramid structure. People should be more worried about how a network marketing company is sustained rather than with the shape of the pyramid.

So how does one decide if the network marking company they are looking g at is indeed legitimate and not fraudulent money-making schemes? Here’s how to differentiate a legitimate business from a pyramid scheme:

Legitimate direct selling companies add value to the existing economy by selling competitive, high-quality products and services and provide a sustainable source of income for those who choose to sell those products. In particular :
- Legitimate network marketing companies provide accurate information about the company, its products, and usually have a website to research, understand and study their products.
- Business in simple terms means goods or services being exchanged for an equal value of money. Hence, a legitimate network marketing company has products or services that are competitive in the marketplace and is purchased by the end user.
- It is very vital to understand that no legitimate network marketing company makes any payment or has a compensation plan based on recruitment of people into the business. The payout or commission is and should always be based on the turnover made by the individual or his team. This means that each time a product or service is sold, the company pays commission to the individual representative on the total sales made. Having said this, anyone who purchases the product from a network marketing company can become the distributor or individual representative of their products and start earning a commission. However, each company has certain qualifying criteria for becoming an individual representative or a distributor, one of them includes the amount of purchase made by the individual as a customer.
- Based on the fact, that, a legitimate business, means an exchange of goods and services for an equal value of money, the compensation plan of a network marketing company should primarily be on the sale of products and services .The sale can be the personal sale of the individual representative or the sales generated by the team under the individual representative.
- A legitimate network marketing company will have a clear policy of return and refund of money in case the individual is not satisfied with the product .The website of the company should very clearly mention procedure for return and refund with contact details like email Id and phone numbers, in case an individual wants to retune and claim a refund. The time frame for claiming a refund should also be very clearly mentioned in their policy and strictly adhered to.
Indeed, network marketing companies face a lot of challenges since there is a lack of awareness, misconception and most importantly, because there is no legislation to administer the industry, especially in many developing economies including India. This gives way to doubts and apprehension when it comes to starting the business with network marketing or multi-level marketing companies. Another notion of people, in general, is that network marketing is an easy and fast money making way, but the fact is that the individual representative or the network marketers who are involved in a legitimate network marketing company have to put in a lot of hard work and efforts to achieve their goals. In this light, it is important to understand and become more aware of the new trends in the economy. Only awareness combined with correct information about the industry will help to differentiate between a legitimate and a fraudulent network marketing company.
Indian government to soon issue the guidelines for Direct Selling Industry
Key Highlights:
- Indian Government to regulate new guidelines barring entry fee to a direct selling/network marketing /MLM company
- All direct selling companies operating in India to comply with the new guideline within 90 days
- The guidelines to specify the cooling period for both the direct selling company and the agent
NEW DELHI: Guidelines prepared by the consumer affairs ministry to regulate the sector reveal that Direct selling companies like Amway, Oriflame and Tupperware will be barred from levying any entry fee on their agents or pressing them to buy back unsold inventory as per TOI.

The companies will also have to guarantee a full refund or buy back products and services sold to their independent representative. This will safeguard thousands of housewives and professionals who work part-time as agents.

The policy is expected to help end the ambiguity between a direct selling firm and a “pyramid scheme.”A typical pyramid scheme is a business model which encourages recruitment of members with the promise of commission for enrolling others into the scheme without any actual sale of products or services.

The direct selling industry has been urging the Indian Government to amend the existing Price Chit and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning Act) 1978 and to come up with a clear legislation that will differentiate them from “pyramid” schemes. According to the industry , “pyramid schemes” companies are not registered with the local authoritarian bodies in the country they operate in, neither do they obtain the license under existing laws of the land, unlike the direct selling companies.

According to a report by ICRIER (Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations) between 2004 and 2009, the direct sellers in India have almost doubled. The report also stated that in 2009-10,India ranked 11th among the top direct selling countries.

In the absence of a clear legislation, the direct selling industry has suffered a lot and has often been confused with pyramid schemes. The industry is known to offer self-employment opportunities to individuals and is spreading to Tier 1 and 2 towns across the country. The direct selling industry is expected to reach Rs.15-20 billion by 2025

Currently, individuals who wish to become agents or independent representatives with a direct selling company have to pay a certain amount towards their registration as agents, as well as, buy some products for selling. The agents are expected to buy back the products in scenarios where they fail to sell them which puts an extra burden on them.

The new guidelines are expected to be rolled out soon and the states will be asked to implement them swiftly. All direct selling companies operating in India will have to comply with the norms within three months post the issue of the new guidelines which will also include mandatory registration with state government agencies. As per this proposed guidelines, direct sellers can only be engaged through a “legal contract.”

As per the sources, the new guidelines will also specify the cooling period during which both the parties, i.e. a direct selling company and the agent, can request to cancel the contract and claim a refund. It is also expected that the companies will not resort to any form of misleading advertisement to attract consumers.

As stated by an official, “the policy will take care of direct selling agents and consumers as well, which will include the manner in which companies operate and agents approach the consumers.”
The Status of Network Marketing/MLM/Direct Selling in India
Key Highlights
- The history of network marketing
- Global industry size
- Need of the hour for the direct selling industry to thrive and flourish in India
What is Direct Selling and Network Marketing?

Before we discuss or try to understand the current situation of Network Marketing /MLM or Direct Selling Industry in India, it is important to understand the Industry first.

A simple definition of network marketing or Multi-level marketing (MLM) is that it is a marketing strategy wherein a company does not hire sales force or marketing team to market and sell its products. Instead, they have independent representatives who use their personal network to promote the goods and services of the particular company and make a certain percentage as commission on the overall turnover made by them and their team. Network Marketing enables the company to reach its potential customers that it might not otherwise be able to reach with a traditional online or offline marketing strategy.

Network Marketing, also known as Multi-Level-Marketing is actually a part of the Direct Selling Industry. Direct Selling companies remove the traditional distribution channels in between the consumers and sell their products directly through their independent representatives. In this industry, a person can be a consumer, distributor or a network marketer. Consumers are the ones who only use the products and services from the Direct Selling Company. A distributor is typically someone who is a consumer and also sells the products and services directly to people and earns a retail commission for every sale he makes. Network Marketer is not only a distributor and must sell products and services directly, but also refers and trains other distributors to sell the products and services and build their own businesses. They not only earn retail commissions but also commissions for the total turnover generated by their entire Network.

This allows people to leverage other people’s effort and earn residual income. So contrary to the misconception, in network marketing, no one is paid for recruiting people, but for the personal sales, one makes or for the overall turnover generated from one’s entire team.

History of Direct Selling and Network Marketing

The origin of direct selling or network marketing industry can be traced back to 1886 with the establishment of Avon. This model of direct interaction with the customers was hugely successful. An entirely new chapter of evolution was induced with the introduction of the multi-level marketing compensation plans (MLM plans) by Nutrilite in 1945. In this compensation plan, the individual representative got the opportunity of building their own business by refereeing new distributors into the business and earning revenue from their own sales and the sales of distributors they enrol.

With its success, many companies adopted the MLM plan, including global players like Avon, Tupperware and Amway. The 1990s saw a growth in the global direct selling market with major players expanding globally and entering newer, promising markets like Brazil, China and India.

Global Industry size

As per the study conducted by FICCI and KPMG, Direct selling is a USD167 billion industry globally. Even though the industry grew at a low rate of 5.4 per cent in 2012, due to global economic slowdown, as compared to the overgrowth rate of 19.7 per cent in 2011, the long-term growth projection of the industry remains robust.

Industry size in India

As per KPMG – FICCI report, the Indian market for direct selling or network marketing industry was estimated at Rs.7, 500 crores in 2013-14. It forms around 0.4 percent of the total retail sales in the country. This figure is still far lower than other comparable economies (one-half of direct selling market size of China and one-tenth of Malaysia). As per the reports from FICCI – KPMG Direct selling is likely to reach Rs.64,500 crore billion in India by 2025.

Challenges In India

In India, there are no laws or a regulating body for network marketing or Multi-Level-Marketing (MLM) business, hence, subjecting this industry to frequent criticism and lawsuits. The only law that India currently has is The Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning Act) 1978.

To summarize what the Act says, in simple words, is that the Government legally bans any such schemes wherein the members are paid to recruit members, with no significant products or services to buy or sell and where there is a considerable amount of money collected from people just in exchange for a promise of future returns.

With no proper law in place, this industry is often targeted with lawsuits of scam and fraud. Even companies which pay proper taxes for the turnover made by the business are unfairly targeted and scrutinized. The important point to be noted is that all earnings of the independent representatives are also taxed at the sources by the Government and yet the same company face problems in its operations in India and have to fight lawsuits in the courts for years without any results!

The number one issue that is impacting the growth of the direct selling industry in India is the lack of clear legislation that gives clarity and regulates the activities of the direct selling industry. In the absence of such a law, some authorities, have confused or have formed a view that direct selling companies are covered under the provision of the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978. The truth be told, this Act in its current form, cannot distinguish between a genuine direct selling company from fraudulent activities such as the pyramid or Ponzi schemes. An amendment in the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning Act) will create a favourable legal environment for the industry thereby protecting individuals.

In India, the regulatory environment is also another challenge for the direct selling industry. Because of lack of legislation, often consumers complain is registered under the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning Act) and are treated as a criminal offence, leading to arrests of key officials, individual representatives, offices getting sealed etc. Such situations send a negative message regarding the business operating environment in India. Many direct selling companies that operate in India face many operational problems, challenges, the allegation as well as media assassination. Companies like Mary Kay wounded up its Indian operations in 2013 citing regulatory environment as one of the reasons. At the point of time, Mary Kay had 2.5 million distributors in about 35 markets globally. In India, it had about 4,500 beauty agents and four third-party warehouses. Amway chairman and CEO, William S Pinckney, was also arrested in 2014 by the Andhra Pradesh Police based on a complaint of alleging unethical circulation of money through Amway’s operation. Other companies like QNET and the likes have also been in the news for illegally extracting money from people based on complaints registered under the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning Act).

In this light, it is also very important to understand that these companies are the same companies who globally function in markets with very strict direct selling and consumer protection policy like the USA, UK, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Dubai to mention a few. It is therefore of paramount importance that the Direct Selling companies and the government together find a legislative solution that will clearly differentiate a legitimate direct selling business from frauds and Ponzi schemes.

The need of the hour is an amendment to the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning Act). Direct selling industry did not even exist in India until the early 1990s and to expect that a law passed in 1978 will do justice to the industry is completely unfair. The Act was never intended to regulate direct selling industry, but the misrepresentation and misapplication of this Act has given the investigating authorities the power to seize, seal and arrest on receiving any complaints. This has proved catastrophic for the direct selling industry. Hence the importance of amending this act to clearly define a “pyramid schemes” and distinguish them from legitimate direct selling companies cannot be undermined. Besides this, it is also important that the Government pass new and separate legislation on direct selling. Many countries like Malaysia, Vietnam, South Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, and even Bangladesh have enacted a law for direct selling which has helped them in multiple ways.

Separate legislation for the direct selling industry will not only clear the blurred lines between ethical industry players and impersonators but will also help in winning back the confidence of the consumers. As for the industry, it is in double jeopardy at the moment—corrosion of faith and an identity crisis.
Inc. Magazine once again included Stemtech: 4 time in 6 years

Inc. Magazine has once again included Stemtech International. Inc. on its List of the Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America. Stemtech has now appeared on this prestigious List three years in a row and a fourth time in six years, a feat unmatched by any other company in the direct selling industry. Achieving this coveted accolade even once is much sought-after verification of a company’s consistent growth and a signal to entrepreneurs and the public in general that a listed company has a solid future. Inc. Magazine pointed out that Stemtech’s repeated achievement is especially significant “in the difficult economic environment of the past few years.”

In a message distributed to the members of his international corporate staff and the tens of thousands of global Independent Business Partners in nearly fifty countries, Stemtech Co-Founder, President and CEO Ray C. Carter, Jr., congratulated everyone for this achievement. Carter said, “It is your dedication and hard work that have propelled Stemtech to this recognition by Inc. Magazine. We did it again, four times in the last six years and three years in a row!” adding, “Making the List is even more impressive this year, given the major office relocations we had to handle in 2014.” This reference was to the company’s move of its corporate headquarters and warehouse facilities in spring 2014 from San Clemente, CA, to much larger facilities Pembroke Pines, FL, to accommodate future growth, as well as the concurrent office and warehouse relocations in a number of the company’s international operations.

Stemtech Senior Vice President of Global Markets Jonathan Lester pointed out the company’s key strategic initiative of global expansion early on, which is largely responsible for the company’s consistent growth. Lester commented, “We began our international development in 2007 and our pace continues unabated. In 2014, the company managed to open six new countries, and we are on track to open a record-breaking 15 countries in 2015.”

Stemtech International, Inc. offers Innovation, Wellness and Prosperity in the global marketplace with a patented and patent-protected line of all-natural nutritional products that can be purchased only from Stemtech Independent Business Partners. Go to www.stemtech.com to learn more about The Stem Cell Nutrition Company® and its products, scientific research, published clinical studies, patents and entrepreneurial opportunity.

BREAKING News: Stemtech India pvt ltd Received Official Approval by FSSAI

Now it is official that Stemtech India got official approval from FSSAI. The approval has been given to SE2 and Dermastem. Now these products will be available in India through network marketing/mlm/direct sale.

Stemtech is a leading company on Stem Cell Nutrition.

If you wish to know more about Stemtech India, check this link : http://stemtechindialaunch.blogspot.in
MLM Growth potential at Rs 64,500 crore by 2025

Legalise direct selling business, should have govt assistance: Amitabh Kant

Says industry has enormous growth potential.

Direct selling should not be equated with fraudulent financial schemes and should gain government recognition and proper legislation, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) Amitabh Kant said on Tuesday.

Speaking at an event about direct selling – the marketing and selling of products directly to consumers away from a fixed retail location, by industry body Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci), Kant said the industry had enormous growth potential.

Stressing that it was a public business and not ponzi schemes, a number of which have recently been uncovered in eastern states, Kant called for increased government supervision and assistance in the industry.

“Government needs to be made literate about issues regarding direct selling”, he said. He added DIPP has already sent the draft guidelines on direct selling to the department of consumer affairs, which is the nodal authority for all legislation on the matter, for state level implementation.

In the absence of a proper legal framework, Kant said local administration like tax officials and police need to be educated more to help direct selling which has produces large scale employment.

A report on the industry by international business advisor and auditor KPMG, released at the event, pointed out the size of the industry in India to be Rs 7500 crore in 2013-14.

Although currently, direct selling accounts for around 0.4 per cent of all retail sales in the country, the report pegged its growth potential at Rs 64,500 crore by 2025.

The market for direct selling managed to grow at an impressive compounded annual rgrowth rate of 16 per cent in the last five years.

The total international market size is $ 180 Billion and involves consumer products major Amway, cosmetics manufacturer Avon and health supplements maker Herbalife.
THE DIRECT SELLING ASSOCIATION ON PYRAMID SCHEMES: TRUTH AND TRUTHINESS
Dr Vander Nat and Dr Keep set the record straight & discuss how recent DSA report mainly appeals to truthiness, takes novel stand on key diagnostic for a pyramid scheme and runs contrary to recent case law

This is a guest blog by Peter Vander Nat, Ph D, and William Keep, Ph D. Dr Vander Nat is a former senior economist with the FTC who has testified in numerous federal pyramid scheme cases. Dr Keep is the Dean of the School of Business at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) and an expert on pyramid schemes. Together Drs Vander Nat and Keep authored two seminal works analyzing the MLM industry.

Public statements presented as true, though without supporting logic or evidence, if repeated frequently and with enough gravitas may eventually be accepted as true. To capture this type of phenomenon, a new word has been added to our lexicon, “truthiness.” Truthiness does not necessarily indicate a false statement, though a false statement authoritatively asserted as though it were true does qualify.
Below we test our understanding of truthiness with regard to a recent report commissioned by the Direct Selling Association (DSA) and other assorted DSA public statements. Curiously, the authors of the DSA report are antitrust experts, who have neither published any scholarly works concerning multilevel marketing companies (MLMs), nor acted as pyramid scheme experts in a court of law. Perhaps it is due to this lack of expertise and experience that their report mainly appeals to truthiness.

As for truth, it is certainly true that much effort, time and many words went into criticizing a paper* that we wrote thirteen years ago. But it must be pointed out at the start that the model we developed as a scholarly work has never been used in a court of law to determine whether or not a company is operating a pyramid scheme, and it was never proposed that it could function in that way. This is so because each pyramid case presents a unique set of available data, and the analysis in each case must address how the company functions in practice. Unfortunately, the authors of the DSA report did not appreciate these relevant points. If they had, their report could have been cut in half, and perhaps more.

The DSA report grants at the start that we are recognized experts in the field of distinguishing a legitimate business enterprise from a pyramid scheme. But it omits the recognition that, in the 15 pyramid scheme cases in which Dr. Vander Nat was appointed the government’s expert – each time submitting an economic analysis to the court — no court has ever rejected his conclusion that the organization is/was a pyramid scheme. That is to say, the vast majority of arguments made in the DSA report are old news, having been considered and either rejected or ignored in numerous courts of law.

Unencumbered by this precedent, the DSA report takes a novel stand and boldly declares (literally puts in bold), “[t]he key diagnostic for a pyramid scheme is whether the transactions defining the commercial enterprise yield incremental value to society,” — a claim that is firmly rejected by eminent scholarship in law and economics (see Posner below). Here is a respectful word of advice to DSA members: although you might like what this report has to say, if ever an MLM company is in court defending itself against pyramid scheme allegations, waxing poetic about the firm’s value to society won’t help; far better to focus on retail sales.

We further highlight that the 2014 BurnLounge decision, which is used as the basis for the DSA’s critique of our work, does not invalidate our emphasis on retail sales, whether in the 2002 paper or in specific court testimony (below). By presenting a few selective portions of the BurnLounge ruling and ignoring the fully articulated basis for the ruling that BurnLounge was a pyramid scheme, the DSA report dismisses our emphasis on retail sales as “a premise that cannot be sustained.” Actually, we show the opposite. Not only can it be sustained, an emphasis on retail sales is being sustained by the appellate decision itself (2014) and in a recent federal court injunction against Vemma (2015).

A Sampling of Truthiness in the DSA Report and Public DSA Statements

As to the report’s purported “key diagnostic:”
1. This assertion (quoted earlier), conveying a concomitant need for cost/benefit analysis regarding a pyramid scheme, is a striking example of ignorance for known principles in economics and law. A pyramid scheme is inherently fraudulent (every court has said so), and is properly analyzed under the established maxim that deception/fraud carries no social benefit. As explained by Judge Posner in his Economic Analysis of Law (2nd ed. P.81), “The question of affirmative misrepresentations in consumer transactions is straightforward: the costs of making and of unmasking the misrepresentation represent a deadweight social loss,” and later continues with “Misrepresentation involves costs to both sellers and buyers that yield no social gain.”
2. The FTC follows the same principle and never offers extrinsic evidence by way of cost/benefit analysis in prosecuting deception. Ironically, based on the DSA report, the FTC must be missing the “key diagnostic for a pyramid scheme.”
3. Instead, the agency affirms (FTC Policy Statement on Deception; 1983) that extrinsic evidence in cases of deception “can consist of expert opinion, consumer testimony (particularly in cases involving oral representations), copy tests, surveys, or any other reliable evidence of consumer interpretation.”
In sympathy with the DSA report, Mr. Mariano, President of the DSA declared: “The legal analysis should be: is the product being used by real consumers?” Whether the consumer is a distributor is immaterial, he says.
1. What about the following? Courts have ruled that whether product purchasers are primarily business participants versus consumers is an important part of pyramid determination, with numerous courts finding MLM companies to be pyramid schemes with negligible sales beyond what their distributor-recruits purchase, and with documented harm to tens of thousands of victims. MLM companies continue to face pyramid scheme charges.
“Even if one were to accept the faulty premise that case law trumps economics when it comes to performing economic analysis, recent developments have… Continue Reading…

Courtesy: TruthInAdvertising.org