Nutrition and Direct Selling

Direct Selling News -

MLMs Known for Quality & Research
While the direct marketing channel still suffers from image problems, network marketers may in fact offer some of the nutrition industry’s highest quality products. “In my experience, MLMs are among the most demanding customers on quality issues,” said Preston Zoller, President of Inverness Medical Nutritionals Group, which manufactures supplements for a range of private label and contract manufacturing customers. “Their products come with very high consumer expectations and must perform or won’t be repurchased. MLMs also tend to have large and knowledgeable quality staffs to oversee and enforce their requirements.”

MLMs may also fund more research than retail brands because they require a scientific foundation for the claims that sell their products. “The robust markups in the MLM channel are an important factor in being able to support the research and the quality that are built into MLM products,” said Zoller. “MLM brands often carry higher dosages of the more expensive ingredients because they are not subject to the same price-point pressures as retail brands. They are more likely to make cost efficacy trade-offs in favor of efficacy because their direct-selling model depends so heavily on repeat sales.” Pharmanex, for example, has more than 130 scientists in three labs in the U.S. and China and conducts around 10 human studies, 15 to 20 pre-clinical studies and 10 to 20 safety studies in a year, according to Carsten Smidt, Vice President of Global R&D.
(continued here...)