다단계 및 방문 판매방식의 이론적 비교 -판매원 유인구조를 중심으로-

Abstract

While multi-level marketing and door-to-door marketing have similarities in that they comprise large market shares in the distribution industry, they have one big difference in terms of sales agents' compensation scheme, notably cumulative bonus payment in multi-level marketing. This paper theoretically shows that in multi-level marketing, upper-level agents put more effort into recruiting lower-level agents. On the contrary, all agents, regardless of level in door-to-door marketing, put more effort into selling goods directly. Moreover, unit bonus payment for recruiting lower-level agents is likely to be larger in multi-level marketing than in door-to-door-marketing, which leads to higher sales price of goods in multi-level marketing than that in door-to-door marketing. In addition, when each agent is faced with segmented market demand, recruiting activities for lower-level agents are more aggressive in multi-level marketing than in door-to-door marketing. As a result, the sales network expands quicker in multi-level marketing, thus stirring up more speculative spirit. The related empirical facts support this paper's implications derived from theoretical analysis.