Difference between direct sales and affiliate marketing?

[trustdnb]

I'm getting confused what is the difference between direct sales and affiliate marketing?
could any one tell me how does it work?

Many thanks

 

[Nytshade]

Direct sales is when you sell your product or services direct/straight to the consumer. The consumer doesn't have to come to your physical store. You can deliver the product via a distributor or a sales rep. For a digital product, you just send the customer to a download page.

Affiliate marketing is when you allow other people to sell your product or service for a commission, the affiliate does all the marketing and promotion and when people buy your product through their link/phone number you give them a commission.

The difference is that, with direct selling you have to do all the promotion, advertising and get customers then you also have to pay the sales rep or distributor to deliver the product. If it's a digital product then you don't need anyone to deliver the product, the buyer just goes to a download page to get the product.

With affiliate marketing, the affiliate does all the marketing, promotion, get customers and advertising. You can still do the promotions yourself to maximize profits, that way you don't have to pay anyone a commission. If it's a physical product you still have to pay for delivery and pay the affiliate marketer.

The biggest advantage of using an affiliate marketer is that most of them already have a list of buyers.

 

[oldnickb]

Generally if people talk about direct selling they are talking about selling straight to the consumer at their home or business. Most direct sales people will be working mainly on commission. In most cases they will be working company supplied leads. eg double glazing salespeople. Although most will be self employed they will be portayed to the customer as company staff.

Confusingly many network marketing(mlm) companies call themselves direct sales companies because they are utilising a network of independent distributors, and I have seen adverts that suggest you are becoming an affiliate but that is not the case.

Affiliate marketing is selling a vendors products online and earning a commission for doing so. Effectively the affiliate is doing all the lead generation and is getting paid for doing so.

Again confusingly Amazon doesn't have affiliates, they have associates but that is just their choice of nomenclature

Just to further confuse you direct marketing is the use of direct response mediums to generate the order. That would be direct mail or direct response adverts in media publications.

From a vendors point of view affiliate marketing can be the most cost effective because you only pay anything out when a sale is made. As an affiliate you are absorbing the marketing cost and unless you know what you are doing it's easy to lose money.

10 years ago you could use adwords to drive traffic straight to an affiliate offer. Clicks were a couple of cents. Making a profit was relatively easy. That is no longer the case with clicks having soared in price.

 

[Archana]

Direct sales means to sell your products directly to your customers to earn huge benefit through it. But whereas affiliate marketing is a process where you can sell your products on others website to earn some profit or interest from it. Nowadays affiliate marketing is on demand as it gives the opportunity to many of the people to compare their desired products easily.

 

[Nancy G]

I'm getting confused what is the difference between direct sales and affiliate marketing?
could any one tell me how does it work?

Many thanks

Direct Sales is when you sell /promote/deliver products or services directly to the customer. You also recruit agents to be part of the team who will be replicating what you have done. You get commission based on your sales and total sales of the team. The advertising part including the materials are normally done by the manufacturer or marketing company. You are normally required to buy a sales kit to become an agent or distributor and can sell only products sold by the marketing company. A lot of interpersonal skills are required here as you continue to grow your business. The success is based on team effort.

Affiliate marketing is when you promote products/services to prospective buyers online and when they click to the link you provided, the customer is led to the vendor who then finalize the transaction and you get a corresponding commission based on the sales or sales lead made. Here you do not sell the products directly. Your only job is to introduce awareness. The income is based on performance and you work alone. Everything is done online where you try your build your social media presence strategically to attract prospective buyers. Also, initially, you really have to invest time and effort in finding the right product mix, building your market list and developing your promo tools but in the long run, positive results may far exceed your expectation. As long as sales is generated, you continue to receive your income. This is called Passive Income. The principle “We reap what we sow” typically applies in this concept.

 

[lusciousgirl]

Direct sales mean that you have the inventory of the products, you do your own advertisement of your products. You have your products with you and you are the one promoting your products to other individuals. You will get the full ROI once you sold your products.

Meanwhile, affiliate marketing is promoting other people or companies products and the affiliate marketers will earn a commission once they get to sell the products or services of the company they work with. They usually promote the products by creating ads online, using their social media to promote whatever products or services they are currently affiliated with.

 

[BelindaMT]

Hi oldnickb,
I was quite surprised with your response. My own understanding of the difference between direct selling and affiliate marketing is the same as other members thoughts that had been shared here. However, it's still not clear to me why you have said that as affiliate in mlm companies is not the case. If it is not affilaite and so what it is?. I hope you don't mind if I ask your thoughts about it. Thank you in advance in case you give me answers.

 

[stephe joseph]

Affiliate marketing - happen when an individual enrols in the referral program usually for free, and earns a commission for referring their followers to a brand or site.
2> The affiliate market generally dont have the ability to build a team and dont receive a commission when a new affiliate signs up because of their efforts.
3> The affiliate market payouts are considered wholesale commissions and are percentages of sales.


Direct selling- is where you directly sell a product to your customer.
1> Most of the direct selling refers to their distributor, not the affiliate.
2> Distributor have a wholesale commission just like affiliate marketers, but they get an additional commission for team building.
3> direct seller are encouraged not only to sell a product but also teach their team members.

 

[EvaMPerkins]

Hello,

Direct sales intend to market your services and products right to your clients to earn enormous benefit through it. However, affiliate marketing is a process where you can sell your services and products to earn interest or a little profit from it. Nowadays internet affiliate marketing is on-demand as it provides the ability to a number of individuals to compare their own services and products that are desired easily.