Recession is a boon to Jacksonville direct-sales entrepreneurs - bizjournals:

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Her walls are drapeds with the high-end Etcetera clothing line from NewYork City-based Ltd., and customera come by appointment for a personalized shopping session to ordef next season’s styles. It’s one of hundreds of direct-sales businesses that women quietly operats out of their homessevery year, and a small part of the $30.i8 billion-and-growing direct-sales industry. And in a different time, that migh t be the end of the But it seems that despitd an economy that has battered the balance sheetss ofmany companies, direct-sales businesses like Etcetera are outperformintg their retail counterparts. And it’s not an anomaly.
In an average direct sales performance followzs theoverall economy, but recession years are a boon for the according to Washington, D.C.-based trade group Direct Selling Across two decades and three recession years, direct salesz grew more than the GDP. Two of thosee years, 1990 and 1991, saw inflation-adjusted directg sales growth in excess of 5 according tothe association. It’s partly becausee this form of self-employment requiring very little startup fundse and involving little risk becomes an attractive optio when jobsbecome scarce.
Many direcy sales prospects peddling anything from pet producta to cosmetics to adult toys can require as littlras $10 in initiaol investment with a median average of $100. Althougn the industry is stilloverwhelminglyg female-dominated, accounting for 90 percent of it is gaining a more diverse from the newly unemployed to the professional womam with an entrepreneurial spirit. Cavin was a busy lawyet when she cameacross Etcetera. Darlene Hampton, a former buyer for Stein Mart, launched her localo operation of the clothing which the companycalls “agencies,” in 2003 with partner Dardenn Grant, and third partner Frances Middlekauffv joined later.
Cavin was a loyalk customer, and after retiring, decidexd to join forces with the Together, they have seen a 25 percent increase in the number of items sold compared with this time last They declined to providerevenues growth, citing it as proprietary Company spokeswoman Kathleen Lucente said top performers can earn six-figure salaries sellingv the garments, which start at $175 for skirts and pants and can go up to $425 for That means that despiter a startup cost of $1,250, a consultant could recoupl her initial investment selling fewer than a doze n items. “Florida is one of our most lucrative said Lucente, who added that the market coule support five more consultants.
“Itr has some of the top sellers in the Etcetera recognizes that an influx of new consultants accounts for much ofthe recession-yeaf growth within the company, but Hamptoj thinks her customers find a qualitg in Etcetera that brick-and-mortar retailerzs don’t have. “I think they like the comfortg of coming to a home to shop and not haviny to go to a mall and go store tostore they’re depressing,” Hampton said. “Sales associates attack you and ther e are salessigns everywhere. Here, you come to a home that is non-stressful.
” The real success of the direct-salexs business may have less to do with the producty than what the customer getswith it, according to Amy spokeswoman for the Direct Selling Association. In addition to the personap attention thatmany direct-sales businesses have focusec on, more are finding that educating the customerf on the product, its use, and industry is also becomingy a big hit with