Bad times bring boom for direct-sales industry
South Africans flock to sales sideline to help make ends meet
● When Queenie Ledwaba began selling bedding to supplement her income as a teacher, she never dreamt she would still be doing it 27 years later.
But her sideline proved to be so successful that she resigned from her day job to take up direct selling full time.
Ledwaba, 68, from Pretoria, is one of an estimated 1.3 million South Africans in the direct-selling industry who, according to the latest statistics, sold products valued at a total of R10.9-billion in 2016.
Many of them are doing it part time to get by in challenging economic times.
And with VAT rising by one percentage point on April 1, as well as an increase in the fuel levy, more and more South Africans will be looking for extra income to help pay the bills.
According to the Direct Selling Association of South Africa, (DSASA) 72% of those working in the direct-selling industry are women and 86% are black.
Jolene Hendricks first started selling cosmetics in 2014 when she was unemployed, but even after getting her full-time job back she continued to sell beauty products on the side.
Hendricks, 36, a clerk at a distribution agency in East London, said in a good month she could make R1 000 commission.
“Cosmetics are something people use on a daily basis, so it made the most sense. It’s difficult to find customers and I have to buy the products using my own cash and then sell it.
“But it’s worth it because the money that I make helps to plug little holes.”
She said she used social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp to reach customers. Two Facebook posts and one WhatsApp group message a week was sufficient, while she relied on word of mouth to get new customers.
Celestine Prince, 31, from Johannesburg, sells cosmetics, skincare products, jewellery
and fragrances. She said that after buying some of these products, she realised she could turn it into a business.
A full-time bookkeeper at an advertising agency, Prince sells the beauty products part time and said she could earn anything between R800 and R5 000 a month.
She said her biggest challenge was getting new customers because it required making time to go out and meet new people, which she doesn’t always have.
“This helps with the little things . . . it’s my extra money. I call it my feel-good money, it’s for the little things that I need.
“It’s just a side business for me, but I know that other people have been able to pay off their cars or school fees or rent just from selling,” Prince said.
This was the case for Ledwaba, who started selling bedding and crockery part-time when she was a teacher in 1991.
“I needed extra money and I saw that there was money in it, but it depends on your determination. I didn’t struggle because I wanted money. It helped me buy my first car and I could take my children on holidays.”
Ledwaba said she made between R8 000 and R20 000 a month.
DSASA chairwoman Cornellé van Graan said there had been an increase in the number of people getting involved in direct selling.
She said the number of “managers” within the association, which has 34 member companies, had grown from 350 066 in 2015 to 472 494 in 2016, representing an increase of 35%. (A manager is a sales agent who has their own network of sellers.)
“Direct sales gives people the opportunity to achieve financial independence without the limitations of being office-bound. This is a very attractive proposition, especially in today’s society where people increasingly struggle to balance their home and working lives.”
Van Graan said the association found that skincare products, cosmetics and fragrances accounted for the biggest share of the directsales market.