Chapter 5: Network Marketing Trends and Phases in the health and fitness market

Network Marketing Trends

Let us examine how network marketing companies, created the trends, cashed in on the market and set the bar for the industry standards so we can get an idea how to cash in as well.

POTS AND PANS

There are two network marketing companies that have been very long in the market. Those two companies are Amway and Tupperware.

Tupperware was popular during the 60’s when most women spend their time at home and were looking for a way to make additional income. The company pioneered a system which allows for women to host parties called Tupperware Parties.

Tupperware parties gave those women a chance to cook and organize gatherings at their own home and display a showcase of Tupperware containers and wares to their friends and families.

The host will be able to take orders from the prospects and the company will give additional discounts to those who decide to host the parties. It created an energetic and empowering business model that allowed women everywhere to become business women and set the standard for good quality storage containers and kitchenware.

This is the age where pots and pans became the ‘in’ thing.

Amway also has a very wide product range besides nutrition, selling cookware and utensils like Queen Cookware.

Because not many women spent their time working outside and most of the time in the kitchen, it became necessary to have good quality kitchen wares to enable them to do their job.

Cooking good food was the main key in health and wellness industry in its inception stage as later on the trend will be to ‘go back’ to good old, home cooked food.

Nutritional Supplements

Older companies like Herbalife and Amway were also the pioneers for the health and wellness industry. During the 70’s and the 80’s, nutritional supplements were very new in the market. There was not much awareness about preventive health needs or supplementing your diet.

The company Nutrilite was bought over by Amway during the 50’s. At that time, network marketing was very new in the industry and was considered a very shady and unregulated industry. They had the reputation similar to what franchising was before that.

Even though at that time, the health and wellness industry hasn’t reached the demand that is even near to what we have today, Amway fought an uphill battle with consumers and the authorities (who accused them of being a scam) and created the awareness for nutrition and set the standard for the next 30 years.

In the past, there may be less pollution and more natural remedies, but after the industrial revolution and the increased stress and pollution, more and more people succumbed to diseases as work related anxiety increases. High blood pressure and cholesterol related problems started plaguing people at an earlier age.

This is worsened by the fact that more and more families are earning a double income without spending time at home cooking good quality meals.

If you were to ask your grandmother to buy supplements, most probably some old fashioned grandmothers would believe in wholesome home-cooked family meals and would scoff the idea of taking ‘so many pills’. They might still be living in the past, but what it teaches us is that time is different today.

People want an easier way to get nutrition without hunting around grocery stalls or planning how to cook food with ingredients in all the different food groups. Amway and Herbalife cashed in on their convenience mentality and scored perfectly which spawn hundreds of new companies jumping on the band wagon.

Supplementary pills, powder and juices start piling up in the homes of network marketers as the industry matured over the years. With the addition of warehousing and efficient delivery services, it provided a staple income for many distributors around the world.

The Water Wave

The time eventually came when water was polluted enough to demand home based water treatment.

This was very popular during the 90’s.

Once again, many people did not anticipate the water wave while others cashed in on this important health niche.

Water became a huge concern because of pollution and many kidney failure cases all around the world. Declining health problems once again was the primary motivation which turned consumer’s eyes to ‘buying’ clean water for their families.
What types of water treatment systems are there in the market?

Reverse Osmosis (RO) Water, Diamond Water or Ultraviolet Treatment Water are some of the products available in the market. Today there are even newer technologies released in the form of drops or even cleaning capsules that you can put into your water container to ‘enhance’ the water.

Of course, today the demand is well known especially in Asian countries without good water filtering systems. Most people who buy a new house will think about their kitchen and what water treatment system to buy instead of whether they need one or not. People who boil water on their kettles are becoming more and more scarce as they realize the need.

Once again, another health trend was set. The pioneers are reaping huge rewards for selling the product. Network Marketers are getting repeat sales from water treatment parts and maintenance. Again, how much do you want from a pie, a smaller or a larger slice?

The Age of Air

Utensils, supplements, water… what next?

Air seems to be the logical progression since the other markets are well grounded in the industry today.

The air industry seems to be catching on today due to the indoor air pollution being more poisonous compared to out door with enclosed offices spaces and dust mites in the carpet causing more and more air related sickness day by day.

Air filtering devices are marketed today by the masses.

Devices like Air Treatment systems, aromatherapy, oxygen replenishing and other fragrances are starting to dominate the market.

If the water industry claims that they can help you by ‘providing you with an extra kidney’, then the air industry will ‘provide you with an extra lung’

Compared to the rest of the markets, the air industry is relatively new and not as saturated as the other markets.

Next - Previous - Back to main page