Business View Magazine | March 2018

32 all of themon an as-needed basis.We have a commit- tee structure throughwhichwe interact with all of our members so theycan networkwith each other.We do not have a hard copy,print communication in the form of amagazine,however we cooperate with at least one industrypublication and sometimes,more,put out byvendors and suppliers,inwhichwe will deliver our Association and industrymessages.” Finally,speaking about DSA’s protecting function, Mariano says,“Likemost associations and trade organi- zations,we have an advocacyfunction,which is rep- resenting the interests of the businessmodel across a wide range of governmental and policymaking bodies, including state legislatures,town and citycouncils, and,of course,the United States Congress; and also in conjunctionwith our colleagues and other associ- ations and,at theworld federation,increasinglyat the international level in front of global bodies.” While direct selling accounts for less than one per- cent of total retail sales in the United States,Mariano stresses that its growth rate has traditionallyoutpaced that of other retail sectors.In fact,from themid 1980s until the Great Recession of 2009,the industryhad un- broken growth of about four or five percent eachyear, on average,even though demographicchanges and the growing trend toward internet shoppingmight logicallyhave predicted the sector’s demise.“Yet the di- rect selling channel,which relies on face-to-face inter- action,social interaction,knowledge about the product –all of these things actuallyenhanced the abilityof the channel tomaintain its viability,becausewe were able to provide services and information about prod- ucts that were not otherwise available in the growth of either direct marketing,or big-box retailing,and even, to some extent,internet retailing,”Mariano asserts. “At the same time,”he continues,“direct selling THE DIRECT SELLING ASSOCIATION