Did you know that two-thirds of our country's gross domestic product (GDP) is thanks to retail consumption? It's clear that Americans love to shop!
So if you've been looking for business opportunities, then you've probably been considering getting into the retail world. People spend tons of cash on numerous items, after all!
While browsing business opportunities, you might've come across Lyoness, which is one of the numerous MLM companies out there.
So what is Lyoness? Can you make money with it? Keep reading to get a thorough Lyoness review!
What Is Lyoness MLM?
Lyoness is a multi-level marketing or MLM company (more on this later). It was first established in Austria in 2003 and caters to both consumers and merchants. This means that if you join this MLM, you can potentially benefit from being either one or both!
Lyoness actually is an umbrella name and there are several other brands that are associated with them. They include Cashback Solutions, Cashback World, and Lyconet.
How Does Lyoness Work?
For consumers, they can get some cashback when they shop through Lyoness's partner merchants. Usually, this amount is between 1-5%. There are also shopping rewards points that can be converted into either cash bonuses or discounts for future purchases.
For merchants, they can sell their products through Lyoness and be part of the company's international loyalty program.
We know we only mentioned consumers and merchants, but there's actually a 3rd group of people who can join Lyoness: entrepreneurs. They're also known as distributors and they usually focus on the MLM side of things.
Lyoness is somewhat of a unique MLM in that they don't have physical products for you to sell. Instead, you'll focus on recruiting people to join Lyoness as shoppers or distributors.
How Do MLMs Work?
The clue is in the name when it comes to how MLMs work. Basically, you recruit others to work below you, which is called your downline. Then, they recruit more people, and so on and so forth.
The more people you recruit, the higher you'll go up in the ranks. And as a result, you'll earn more money and perks with the MLM.
How to Join Lyoness
What's great about Lyoness is the fact that you can sign up for free. Many MLMs require you to pay a fee to join, so Lyoness has a leg up here. However, the caveat is that you must have a referrer's name and email address to fully register.
While you can certainly make some money with the free account, the Premium account is where it's at. Of course, this level of membership requires a fee. Once you pay it, you'll get full access to the Lyoness compensation plan.
Do People Make Money off of Lyoness?
We've explained above how MLMs work. For Lyoness in particular, you'll get 0.5% for every referral and purchases your downline makes. Lyoness refers to this as the “friendship bonus.”
If you'll look at Lyoness's income disclosure statement, you'll notice something that's pretty alarming: 97% of their distributors earn under $1,000 a year, with an average earning of just over $70. Fewer than 1% of their distributors earn above $5,000 a year, which definitely isn't enough for a living.
The truth is, yes, some people make money off of Lyoness, but they're far and few. In reality, an overwhelming number of people end up in the red instead of the green because they spend a bunch of money to get better perks through Lyoness. But then they aren't able to recoup their losses.
So if you're looking to make a living off of Lyoness, we don't recommend it, based on how little people actually earn over $1,000 a year.
Is Lyoness a Scam?
The nature of downlines makes Lyoness (and MLMs in general) sound very similar to pyramid schemes. These are actually illegal in the US!
However, MLMs are not pyramid schemes since they also have products to buy and programs, which means they're completely legal. This also means they're not scams. (Do note that there are several lawsuits against Lyoness in countries like Italy, Germany, Norway, and Australia; Norway's actually concluded that Lyoness is indeed a pyramid scheme).
But this doesn't mean that MLMs are automatically a good choice to join. As you can see from the above statistics from the company's income disclosure statement, very few people make it to the top.
This is because to be successful with downlines, you need to have excellent marketing skills. It's simply not enough to pitch to just your friends and family, because the profit you'll get from that is negligible.
To be good at marketing, you need to have years of experience and knowledge. Otherwise, the average person won't be able to climb the ranks in any MLM, including Lyoness.
Forget About MLM Companies; Try Affiliate Marketing Instead
As you can see, it's very tough for the average person to crack into MLM companies. While it's certainly possible to succeed and make some decent money, the reality is, it's not possible for the majority of people. Instead, most end up shelling out tons of money and get in the red, all with nothing to show for it.
So instead of hedging your bets on something so uncertain, you should try affiliate marketing instead. It's much easier to get your foot in the door and there's less of a risk of losing your money. And the best thing is, you won't have to be afraid of being associated with business concepts that others are wary of!
In order for you to develop your skills, you should consider taking a free or paid marketing course. There are a variety of digital marketing courses you can take from businesses that can help you enhance your skills. As of writing this, over 80,000 new marketers have taken the Online Business Builder Challenge (only $7), and that might be a good starting place for you as well.
