Retail sales of Lithuanian Direct Selling Association (LTPA) members companies grew by 5 percent last year up to 36.4 million EUR without VAT. Meanwhile, the number of people cooperating with direct selling companies remained stable – over 46 thousand people.
“For the second consecutive year, a stable 5 percent growth of the direct selling market is recorded. It is determined not only by the growth of household income and consumption, but also by the accelerated digitization of the direct selling sector”,- comments Gintautas Zaleckas, Director and Baltic General Secretary of LTPA.
According to G. Zaleckas, last year, an international socio-economic survey on direct selling conducted in Lithuania and other European countries confirmed that both companies and their distributors are using the Internet more and more efficiently in order to manage and develop their business and faster to reach and better serve their clients. For example, companies offer their distributors and customers a variety of platforms for virtual product demonstration and products ordering, while product demonstrations, which are so common for direct sales, are increasingly becoming virtual, and sales transactions are actively taking place on social networks.
When comparing the Baltic countries, in 2018 the volume of direct selling in Latvia grew by 5.1% and in Estonia – 2.1% and amounted to 25.9 million and 19.5 million EUR. The number of direct sellers in Latvia remained stable and exceeded 35 thousand and in Estonia it decreased by 1.5 per cent and amounted to over 25 thousand persons.
Numbers and facts:
In 2018 business volumes of members of the Baltic Direct Selling Association exceeded 85.8 million EUR, while the number of direct sellers exceeded 106 thousand persons.
According to the data of the European Direct Selling Association-Seldia, in 2017 Direct sales (excluding VAT) in the EU countries amounted to almost EUR 29.9 billion, while direct sales companies provided additional earnings to over 6.9 million people.
According to the data of the World Federation of Direct Selling Associations (WFDSA), in 2017 Direct sales (excluding VAT) globally amounted to EUR 189.6 billion USD, and the number of direct sellers reached 116 million people.
For 85 percent of people working in direct selling this is an additional source of income and even 88 percent of the representatives of this business are women.