This article contains a detailed breakdown of Amway’s and Vestige’s Business/Marketing Plans.
MLMs are becoming more and more popular among the public for obvious reasons.
A work-from-home opportunity, women empowerment, owning your own business, and earning some extra bucks are some fascinating ideas on those placards these MLM’s will hand out to you.
But knowing which MLM is legitimate and which can pay you better can be daunting.
Because in case the MLM is a pyramid scheme or a scam, you’ll instead end up getting ripped off financially.
Vestige and Amway are the leading MLM’s in 2021.
And if you are being indecisive over the two, it is entirely justified.
But worry not, I’ve saved you the hustle from knackering your head on all these risky aspects of joining MLMs by stating some straight facts in this article to help you decide which company you should join.
History of Amway and Vestige
History of Amway
Amway is a first-rate MLM company that conducts product sales through multiple affiliated companies in the health, beauty, homecare, and fitness domain.
Jay Van Andel and Richard DeVos were two college friends who started working together as distributors to the Nutrilite company, which was also an MLM.
The two friends were adamant about becoming successful entrepreneurs since their high-school days, and fortunately, the circumstances soon became conducive.
By 1949, Jay and Richard had assembled a team of 5000 distributors in their downline.
So, they and some other distributors partnered to establish the ‘American Way Association’ or ‘Amway’ to look for other products to market in view of the Nutrilite company decline.
Soon After, the two friends secured the rights of developing and manufacturing the ‘Liquid Organic Cleaner.’ This is how the Association kicked off into a Cooperation.
By 1960, the Amway Cooperation had already secured 50% shares of Atco Manufacturing Company. And in 1994, it took over the Nutrilite Company.
As of today, the business has grown quite impressively to become the No. 1 MLM Company worldwide and the top 4th Direct Selling Company in India.
It now runs the business in more than 100 countries and territories and has over 3 million distributors on board globally.
History of Vestige
The Vestige Company is aimed to provide high-quality health, fitness, personal care, and agriculture products with multiple partner companies.
Mr. Gautam Bali laid the founding brick of Vestige in 2004.
His experience of working as the CEO of different Direct Selling Companies served as the driving force to make Vestige one of the best Nutraceutical companies in India.
The three founding directors, Mr. Gautam Bali, Mr. Kanwar Bir Singh, and Mr. Deepak Sood, started the company with only four products and now have expanded the business in 6 different countries with a team of over a million distributors.
As of today, Vestige ranks in the top 100 Direct Selling Companies worldwide and is among the top 10 Direct Selling companies in India.
Comparison Between Amway vs Vestige
Starting with Amway Pros
- High-Quality Products
Amway products are backed up by R and D organizations and has assembled a team of scientists to ensure the quality of their products.
But the products are not vegan or cruelty-free as they are tested on animals to check for quality when needed.
- Online Registration
You can easily sign up with the Amway Business from anywhere in the world through their website and kickstart your online store as soon as the products become available.
- Retail Markup
Amway allows you to decide the price for selling the products yourself, but the average suggested gross profit is 20 to 35%, which is quite good.
Amway Cons
- Lawsuits
Amway has a tainted reputation of being accused of a pyramid scheme in multiple FTC lawsuits.
Although it is not declared illegal, it had to pay out bulks to settle the cases. Numerous legal actions have also been taken against the company for tax fraud, defamation, and copyright issues.
- Market Saturation
As Amway operates on Network Marketing and the company has been established for six decades, one unavoidable consequence that has come for it is ‘Market Saturation.’
If you are thinking of joining Amway, there is a high possibility that the person you take the product to was already approached by someone else.
To get this straight, you are surrounded by the majority who is already Amway customer or a distributor. This slims down your chances of making a reasonable profit from sales.
- Expensive products
The high-quality products and the MLM structure of the company push Amway products on the pricey side. Thus, making it even more of a task to sell them to the general population.
However, they may get readily sold among the quality-conscious coterie because of the satisfactory reviews that flood the internet.
- Startup Cost
After the joining cost has been exempted under the administration of the Direct Selling Association, you only need to spend an initial product amount to join any of the MLM companies.
The minimum cost of purchasing your Amway registration kit to start your business is $100.
After you are into the business, you must spend the same amount every year to renew your registration unless you decide to quit.
- Training
Amway is particularly eager on their Independent Business Owner’s (IBO) personal development and thus requires you to invest in the training resources and attend meetings.
Vestige Pros
- Startup cost
To become a part of Vestige, you must purchase products worth 30 PV.
1 PV is equal to 30 to 35 INR. This means you need to invest in products that are only worth 1000 to 1100 INR to get your business going.
- Affordable Quality Products
Vestige emphasizes the quality of its products and is ISO certified.
Products are also vegan, and PETA certified. The plant-derived ingredients in the products are also FDA GRAS approved.
When I compared the price of protein powders, it came out to be as follows:
- NUTRILITE All Plant Protein Powder (500g): 2,387 INR
- VESTIGE VESLIM Shake (500g): 1625 INR
- Better chances of success
Vestige products in the same category as Amway are more affordable for purchase.
Thus, the Indian population is readily sold on the idea of investing in vestige products. Vestige is also a fairly new company and has better J-curve growth in the Indian market.
Thus, you have greater chances of reaching the top if you join Vestige.
- No Lawsuits
No lawsuits are registered against Vestige to date. But then maybe it is because it just entered the market. Nonetheless, this just makes Vestige more credible and trustworthy.
- No training required
Anyone can join Vestige because of its simple-to-understand marketing plan. Training is not mandatory to work with Vestige.
- Good Income
You can earn a better income with Vestige because of its cumulative business plan. There are better chances of success and better growth incentives like car, house, and travel gifts.
Vestige Cons
- No Online Registration
The biggest hassle you will face if you want to be associated with Vestige is to find a distributor or go to the nearest branch that will sign you up with the business.
- Monthly Targets
Vestige has a monthly sales quota that is measured in Point Value (PV). To remain an active member, you must make the PV for that respective month, which increases for every position.
For example, for 1st month, it is 300 PV. You must sell products worth 300 PV in the first month to remain an active member.
- Not enough profit
You can only earn a profit of about 10 to 20% on the sales you make after subtracting the product purchase cost, which is too low if you compare it with the profit percentage other MLM’s offer.
Amway vs Vestige – Which has a better Business Opportunity?
To help you make an informed decision about which company to opt for, I have penned down a precise comparison of their product ranges, compensation plans, and extra incentives, as these are some of the factors that are important to consider before investing your hard-earned money in.
Amway Business Opp & Compensation
- Product range
Amway started around six decades back and has grown to include a wide range of everyday use products.
It has partnered with over 10 different companies to offer a greater product range of more than 450 products and has expanded business in 100 different countries.
The Amway products fall into the following categories: nutrition and fitness, health and wellness, skincare and cosmetics, and houseware and appliances.
- Compensation plan
Like All other MLM’s, you can earn from Away in two different ways, retail markup, and bonuses.
This is classified as:
- Immediate Income (It is the retail markup from direct sales)
- Performance bonus (It is based on team or personal product sales volume)
You are rewarded a 25% bonus and onetime cash prize on reaching milestones (silver, gold, platinum, ruby, sapphire, emerald, and diamond producer)
- Extras
I didn’t find Amway’s IBO reward system that appealing. The most you get from moving higher up in the position is a bonus or acknowledgment in the IBO publication or maybe a business trip.
It feels like you are getting paid for what you worked for and not like you are getting rewarded. Whereas this is something that Amway boasts a lot about, the phrase goes like, ‘Amway strongly believes in rewarding success.’
Vestige Business Opp & Compensation
- Product range
Vestige operates its business in 6 countries worldwide, with its biggest market in India. It has partnered with about 14 different companies to offer over 250 products.
The products are divided into the following categories:
Health, personal care, skincare and makeup, agriculture products, houseware, and appliances.
- Compensation plan
Vestige is an MLM that functions on a cumulative business plan.
This implies that your progress accumulates and is never lost.
The PV of the products you purchase today will be added to the PVs of the purchase you make in the following month.
A better explanation is that your PVs will keep adding up since you joined the company, making you eligible for a higher percentage of commission sooner.
You can earn income from Vestige in the form of:
- Savings on consumption (it is the profit on direct sales)
- Accumulative Performance Bonus
- Bronze Director Bonus
- Leadership overriding bonus (paid to silver directors and above)
Vestige is operating on a recession-proof business model as it markets affordable products that are too of everyday household use.
- Extras
Man! Vestige has got me hooked. I’m looking at the reward system, and it is literally too rewarding to resist.
A housing fund, car fund, travel fund, elite club bonus, gifts, and consistency offers. Vestige is literally giving you a chance to buy your dreams!
Which network company is good in Amway vs Vestige in 2022?
Vestige, without a doubt.
According to the trend I am looking at, Vestige seems to be the better network company to be affiliated with because it makes it easier for you to make the grade with its cumulative business plan.
As they claimed:
None of your purchase value points are ever lost
Just this alone appeases me so much.
In addition to that, Vestige is distributing approximately 40% of its turnover in the form of extra benefits like house, car, travel funds, etc. And these are just the right candies to get you motivated to move your rear.
I couldn’t find the income disclosure statement of Vestige, so it is not clear how many of the consultants are able to reach the top level.
But if I compare the average income of those who reach the silver position of Amway and Vestige, it is:
- Amway Silver Founder: 15000-50,000 INR
- Vestige Silver Director:754,180 INR
In terms of growth curves, Vestige has a more stable market as compared to Amway, and it is expected to only grow in the years to come.
The company aims to expand its business in over 50 countries by 2025.
Even if Amway has remained unrivaled as the No.1 MLM for the last eight years, it has gathered a bunch of cons like lawsuits, market saturation, and a defunct marketing plan.
The status quo hint that it might get dethroned by Vestige in the time to come.
How to choose the Best MLM Company?
In this section, I’ll list down some simple tips to help you opt for the better MLM and to recognize the red flags to differentiate a Ponzi scheme from a legit MLM company.
FTC and BBB
You can check up with FTC for the company’s Pyramid scheme lawsuits or see the companies ranking on Better Business Bureau to check its reviews. They will help you judge if it is up to snuff.
Income Disclosure statement and benefits
One way to sift facts from specious claims of the company is to look at their income disclosure statements. It will present you with the facts and stats to make it evident if anyone even earns from the MLM or not.
The other thing you can look for to spot the better MLM is the profit ratio from retail sales. If it is above 25%, it is worth the investment. Other benefits and bonuses can serve as a cherry on top.
Source of Revenues
Legit MLM’s are focused on generating revenues from product sales rather than recruitments. If there are better prospects of income from making new recruitments rather than increasing sales, it is definitely a pyramid scheme.
Buy-Back Policy
Legit MLM’s have a buyback or compensation policy to prevent their distributors from going bankrupt. An intact return policy can distinguish a genuine MLM from a Pyramid scheme.
Downlines Suffering
If you see the uplines making heaps of profits and the downlines suffering, it is a Pyramid scheme because you can earn a generous amount from legit MLM’s.
Understanding MLMs – What is Multi-level Marketing?
To be precise, Multi-Level Marketing is a marketing strategy adopted by Direct Selling Companies that enables the uplines to earn a commission from their downline’s profits. But what defines a legit MLM is the fact that the revenue is not solely obtained from the recruitments or distributor’s purchase but rather from the product sales.
Now, how do these Multi-Level Marketing schemes work?
MLM’s provide an entrepreneurial opportunity to the general population by signing them up with their business.
Distributors, sales reps, contractors, or independent consultants are the designations assigned to those who join an MLM company.
These consultants are provided with the company’s products at a discounted price, and they can then earn profits from their retail sales or preferred client sales.
Products are sold directly from home, non-store locations, or online websites.
Everything else to know about Amway and Vestige
What is the rank of Vestige in India?
Vestige ranks in the top 10 Direct Selling Companies in India. Currently, it’s sitting at the 7th position.
Is Vestige No. 1 company?
No. Vestige is not the Number 1 company, but it ranks in the top 100 Direct Selling Companies worldwide and top 10 Direct Selling Companies in India.
Is Amway the best MLM company?
Yes. Amway has been ranked as the Number 1 MLM company worldwide for eight consecutive years.
Why is Amway banned in India?
Amway has been accused of violating the ‘Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act’ and charged for being an illegal Pyramid scheme in India.
The High court ruled against the company’s Business plan in 2007, and the government also issued an order declaring Amway products illegal in 2008.
Final Thoughts
To wrap it up, If you are looking to invest in an MLM in India, Vestige is the better choice.
Because of the competitive prices of products, they are more likely to be sold than their expensive counterparts.
Its business plan is better tailored to the Indian economy and makes it easier for the general population to join the company because of its nominal registration cost.
No training is required to work with Vestige, so anyone with persuasive skills can reach higher levels and enjoy greater benefits.
On the other hand, Amway already had a saturated market in India and now is stuck in multiple lawsuits here.
Moreover, it once was declared illegal too, which puts quite a big question mark on its credibility.
But keeping in view the pros, cons, and the business plan I have sorted out for you in this article, you yourself can now decide better which MLM suits your needs and interests better.
Moreover, if you are looking to join network marketing, remember that ‘the deeper you dig the well, the sweeter will be the water you drink.’