Direct Selling?
Introduction
Direct selling is a dynamic, vibrant, rapidly expanding channel of distribution for the marketing of products and services directly to consumers. The purpose of this paper is to describe direct selling and the benefits that it brings to the marketplace.
Founded in 1978, the WFDSA is a non-governmental, voluntary organization representing the direct selling industry globally as a federation of national Direct Selling Associations (DSAs). There are presently over 59 national DSAs represented in its membership, and in 2007 it is estimated that worldwide retail sales by its members accounted for more than US$114 Billion through the activities of more than 62 million independent sales representatives.
The World Federation and its national DSAs have always understood the necessity for ethical conduct in the marketplace and as such the WFDSA has developed a World Codes of Conduct for Direct Selling which all national DSAs have approved and implemented in their national codes. All direct selling companies agree to be bound by these codes as a condition of membership in a national DSA.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
South African Socioeconomic Impact Study
The World Federation of Direct Selling Associations partnered with the DSA of South Africa on the socio-economic study (SEIS). The study was conducted by Market Support Associates and the results of the study will be promoted with a series of activities throughout 2009 to public and key opinion makers. Some key socio-economic facts from the study are located on the WFDSA
DSA Membership Information
WFDSA’s membership consists of 58 national Direct Selling Associations and one regional federation – Federation of European Direct Selling Associations (DSAs).
Membership in the Federation allows you to name a representative of your association to serve on the WFDSA Board of Directors. The Board meets once per year and usually meets in conjunction with the United States Direct Selling Association’s (USDSA) annual meeting.
The WFDSA affiliated national DSAs are located in the following countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay and Venezuela.
If your DSA is not a member of the WFDSA and is interested in applying for WFDSA membership, you must submit the following documents: a) Letter of application listing its founding members and their contact details, executives' names, etc; b) Constitutive Act of The Association of Direct Selling Companies; c) Association's Statute or Bylaws; d) Codes of Conduct adopted by the association with a minimum requirement to conform to the WFDSA World Codes of Conduct , please refer to http://wfdsa.org/world_codes/index.cfm?fa=code; The description of the DSA's Codes compliance/enforcement process, please refer to http://wfdsa.org/world_codes/index.cfm?fa=complaint; DSA's pledge to abide by the WFDSA Codes of Conduct; and f) A written complaint handling procedure, for reference, please refer to the WFDSA's complaint handling procedure located at: http://www.wfdsa.org/world_codes/index.cfm?fa=complaint.
Once your membership materials have been submitted, WFDSA legal counsel will review the received documents and in case they are complete, acceptance into membership will be decided by a majority of vote of the Board of Directors that consists of one representative from each member direct selling association. If some documents are missing, the DSA will be asked to submit the missing documents.
WFDSA membership dues are based on the following: a) $5 Billion Annual Retail Sales and Above- $5,000; b) $2.5-5 Billion Annual Retail Sales- $1,000; c) $1-2.4 Billion Annual Retail Sales- $750; d) $250-999 Million Annual Retail Sales - $500, e) Up To 249 Million Annual Retail Sales - $250.
Once your DSA membership is approved, WFDSA provides various technical and financial support to its member DSAs, which your national DSA can benefit from.
Direct marketing associations
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Direct Marketing Associations are national trade organizations that seek to advance all forms of direct marketing.
Contents
[hide]
* 1 International Federation of Direct Marketing Associations
* 2 The purposes of Direct Marketing Associations
* 3 Controversy
* 4 Telemarketing legislation
* 5 Some DMAs
* 6 See also
[edit] International Federation of Direct Marketing Associations
23 direct marketing trade associations from five continents established an International Federation of Direct Marketing Associations. Founded in 1989, the IFDMA was established to develop firm lines of communications between direct marketers around the world, and is dedicated to improving the practice and communicating the value of direct marketing; and to promoting the highest standards for ethical conduct and effective self-regulation of the direct marketing community.
[edit] The purposes of Direct Marketing Associations
The purposes are generally ..
* Promoting direct marketing techniques and companies to consumers.
* Fighting negative images of the direct marketing industry.
* Providing training and professional development opportunities to marketers.
* Conducting industry research.
* Hosting networking conferences for marketers.
* Promoting direct marketing, informing consumers of the safeguards that exist, and promoting the DMA as their protector, contact point and regulator.
* Trying to ensure that their members create consumer confidence.
* Advising how companies should use information by operating within the terms of Data Protection Acts.
* Lobbying against Data Protection Acts which protect data against redistribution.
* Lobbying against laws forbidding e-mail address harvesting.
[edit] Controversy
Direct Marketing Associations have attracted controversy, as they purport to defend and promote spam, junk mail, and telemarketing, which many consumers find irritating and intrusive. The DMA has a political action committee that makes political contributions in order to further its causes. The DMA asserts that the mass-mailings done by its members are both economically and environmentally beneficial (the latter because they supposedly reduce the number of car trips taken by shoppers who would otherwise shop at conventional stores).
[edit] Telemarketing legislation
A national do-not-call list, which went into effect in 2003. Under the law, it is illegal for telemarketers to call anyone who has registered themselves on the list. After the list had operated for one year, over 62 million people had signed up [1]. The telemarketing industry opposed the creation of the list, but most telemarketers have complied with the law and refrained from calling people who are on the list.
Canada has passed legislation to create a similar Do Not Call List. In other countries it is voluntary, such as the New Zealand Name Removal Service.
[edit] Some DMAs
* North America
o Canadian DMA
o USA
+ Florida Direct Marketing Association
+ Midwest Direct Marketing Association
+ National Mail Order Association
* Federation of European Direct Marketing (FEDMA)
o Direct Marketing Association (UK)
o Swedma (SE)
* Asia-Pacific
o The Indian Direct Marketing Association
o Australian Direct Marketing Association
