The Difference Between Direct Sales and Retail Sales
How do your customers benefit when they purchase products from you rather than going into a shop?
What makes the direct sales such an increasingly popular way to purchase products?
With traditional retail sales the customer will go, often drive these days, to a retail shop. Go into the shop have a look around, they might if they are lucky get asked by a shop assistant if they need any help, and then decide what they want to buy and then go to a till to make a payment for the purchase. In many big shops now, it doesn’t feel like a personal experience anymore. The introduction of self service tills has added to the robotic feel and even if you bring your own carrier bags you are normally have to answer computerised questions about these.
Direct selling is a completely different experience, and it is easy to see why people love to shop this way. It is either person to person or in a fun party environment, you normally get a chance to try the products, to have someone tell you about them and help you find the right products for you.
The downside for direct sales consumers can be having to wait for the product to arrive, but to be honest with the massive growth in online shopping people are use to not getting an item immediately. Delivery can still be quick anyway, for example with FM Cosmetics UK, if a Business Partner places an order by 1pm they will normally get it the following working day.
There is a big price advantage in direct sales too, or at least there should be, if the company decides to pass it on to seller and consumer. Direct sales companies do not have the high costs of retail outlet rents and rates, their distribution systems are more streamlined with less middlemen to add their mark up and extra vat on along the way and they don’t have the massive advertising costs that many retail shops have to pay just to get someone to visit their store. These savings should mean that products sold by direct sales represent better value for money.
But it is not just about the financial savings, most direct sales people are also users of the products themselves, they can tell potential customers about their own personal experiences with using the products and their own customers’ experiences too. With items like perfume they are their own walking advertisement.
Direct sellers were previously at a disadvantage in terms of the speed in which they could let their customers know about special offers, having to visit or call them all. Social media and text messages have changed all that, and have become a wonderful quick way to keep customers up to date with news about offers and new products.
This is very much the era of direct sales and that is fantastic news for both the direct sellers and their customers too.
