Youth buying the idea of network marketing

After a slow beginning in the mid-nineties, network marketing has clicked with the Indian middle class, catching the fancy of young entrepreneurs.

Network marketing or a multi-level marketing arrangement is one where individuals associate with a parent company as an independent contractor and are paid on the basis of their sales of products or services as well as the sales achieved by those they bring into the business.

Multi-level operations

Established companies like Amway are not only back in business but they are doing it well. Also, the relatively new ones like E-Biz, which operate in the services sector, have benefited from the boom. "Most of the people who attend these meetings are young boys and girls between 23-28 years," says Himanshu Dhanda of Amway.

Earlier, people were hesitant about taking up network marketing, but this is now changing.

"Initially, there was some objection from the side of the parents but over a period of time, I managed to convince them about my decision with my success in the business," says Kashish Arora, a journalism graduate and an E-Biz associate, who likes the idea of exposure and acquiring people-management skills that his business offers, along with sound monetary returns.

The youth of today want to become financially independent.

Earlier, this trend was only seen in countries like Indonesia but now the same change is fast taking place in India as well.

“Network marketing is now seen as a full-fledged career-opportunity,” says Shilpa of Oriflame.

Earn while you learn

Some students have chosen to continue with their studies, while doing business simultaneously. “Doing a network marketing business helps me to earn at the same time as I learn,” says Priyank Bakshi, an engineering student who joined E-Biz in 2005.

Another student, Sunit Gogia, feels that entering a network marketing business presents a much more flexible and lucrative option to earn a quick buck as compared to other options like joining a call centre. “There is no official pressure to spend 7-8 hours working in an office and one is free to work when he/she likes. Studies hardly get affected in such a way,” he says.

Like in any other business, public perception is a big concern for network marketing companies and how the agents perform is important.

The flip side

The criticism is that the agents of network marketing companies 'disguise' themselves under different names and reveal the real name of the brand only sometime later. “My friend introduced a networking company to me not by its name but by identifying it as an organisation dealing in computer literacy of poor children. It was only when he took me to a meeting that I realised that I had been taken for a ride,” says Shivam Sabharwal, a student. — PTI