The 5 Most Popular MLM Companies - MLM's Industry Leaders
By: Jim Green
Submitted: 2010-08-14 21:31:57 | Word Count: 905
In this article we take a quick look at the network marketing industry heavyweight contenders. We review the features, advantages and disadvantages of the top 5 network marketing companies based on their popularity. The measure used to determine the most popular is simply Internet search traffic volume.Popularity of Internet searches certainly isn't a reason to join a company, although we do believe it is wise to understand the strengths and limitations of the most popular companies in the network marketing industry.
The basis of our analysis is Mark D Worthan’s Best-MLM-Opportunities.com which uses Google search statistics. His analysis is based on Google Trends, a service of Google Labs comparing assorted keyword searches across time. The service can be used to determine the relative number of searches for various MLM companies. Here are the results from current data, along with a short overview of each company:
[ advertisement ]
1. Amway – Amway began when its founders became distributors of Nutrilite vitamins in 1959. Amway is famous for “legitimizing” the MLM industry in 1979, when the FTC found that Amway does not qualify as a pyramid scheme. This was based on the finding that the Amway compensation system was based on product sales vs. recruiting payments. Amway reported sales of $8.4 billion in 2009. Amway North America was closed in the early 2000's and most North American distributors joined sister company Quixtar, but still order products from Amway Global. At that time, the average monthly take-home pay for “active” Independent Business Owners was disclosed to be $115. The main advantage of Amway is is broad name recognition in the industry. Its main disadvantage, as reported by many distributors, is its compensation plan which makes adequate earnings difficult for most IBOs.
2. Herbalife – Herbalife was founded in 1980 and achieved net sales if $2.3 billion in 2009. Over the years Herbalife has been in the news because of legal challenges over the safety of its products, none of which has yet been upheld. The company reached settlement with the California Attorney General in 1985 for $850 million when charged with making inflated product claims. The Herbalife product formulas were changed to eliminate Ma Huang in 2002 when several US states banned the use of ephedrine alkaloids. In 2007 a scientific study at the University Hospital of Bern Switzerland and Israeli hospitals found a link between consumption of Herbalife products and hepatitis. Negative press and occasional legal actions are the main disadvantages of Herbalife.
3. Mary Kay – Mary Kay was founded in 1963 as a skin care and cosmetics products company, based initially on a tanner's formulations. Worldwide revenues were $2.5 billion in 2009. Representing a well known brand is Mary Kay's main advantage, although the company is mostly limited to women. A significantly high annual turnover is experienced for both US (68.6%) and Canadian (85%) consultants. Earnings figures reported for Canada were that of 29,675 consultants, only 1878 earned more than $100, 276 of the 553 Sales Directors received more than $17,471 and 15 of the 23 National Directors earned more than $100K, which suggests significant earnings are experienced by only a few top consultants.
4. Pampered Chef – Pampered Chef was founded in 1980, using in-home demonstrations to market cookwares via the party plan business model. Berkshire Hathaway Corporation acquired Pampered Chef in 2002. Earnings figures are unavailable.
5. Monavie – Monavie distributes a juice product made from blended fruit juice including freeze-dried acai powder and puree. Monavie, founded in 2005, recently was eighteenth on Inc. Magazine’s 500/5000 listing of the fastest growing private companies in the US. The effectiveness claims of the product's key polyphenol antioxidants have been blunted by the FDA, Linus Pauling Institute, and European Food Safety Authority who all claim that these compounds once digested have little or no health value. A Newsweek report stated that only 10% of distributors made more than $100 per week and the 2008 rentention rate for new recruits was only 30%. Monavie reamains a very viable opportunity for signifant earnings despite these issues and highly popular #9 ranked on MLMInsider.com's annual report. This may be due to its more up-to-date and potentially lucrative compensation plan and outstanding management, although a recent mlmwatchdog.com video reports a precipitous drop in company popularity in the last year due to some tweaks to the compensation plan.
These companies are all well established and represent good business opportunities, although they may not be in our personal top 5 list. The main point to be made here is how few people do any checking on company background, the founders and/or compensation plan before joining. If evaluating home business opportunities, it is advisable to get familiar with the industry, establish some selection criteria and make an informed, unemotional choice. More and more people are realizing, however, that success in the industry is more about joining a person and team than a particular company's attributes, so sponsor shopping is therefore on the rise.
In this article we take a quick look at the network marketing industry heavyweight contenders. We review the features, advantages and disadvantages of the top 5 network marketing companies based on their popularity. The measure used to determine the most popular is simply Internet search traffic volume.Popularity of Internet searches certainly isn't a reason to join a company, although we do believe it is wise to understand the strengths and limitations of the most popular companies in the network marketing industry.