What makes this Oriflame MLM Review different? Well, I was a distributor for 2 years!
Consequently, I can answer not only the usual questions like ‘is Oriflame a scam’ and ‘is Oriflame a pyramid scheme’, but can also share what makes it so successful and help you to decide if you should consider joining.
My review is also different from most MLM reviews as they generally aim to discredit MLM as a business model.
If you are fed up with MLM bashers and actually want some helpful information, this post is for you!
I currently have no affiliation with Oriflame, however, this website does contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of my links, I get paid a commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support.
Table of Contents
What is Oriflame?
Name: Oriflame
Website: Oriflame
Owners: Oriflame is a publicly owned company but was started by Jonas and Robert af Jochnick along with their friend Bengt Hellsten in 1967. The current CEO and President is Magnus Brännström who started his career with Oriflame as Managing Director of Oriflame Russia in 1997.
Product Range: Beauty products including Skin Care, Make-Up, Body Care, Hair Care range, Baby’s Skincare, Fragrance for Men and Women, Men’s Skincare. Wellness range including supplements, shakes, and protein bars. Beauty and fitness accessories.
Cost to join: You can get started for £19 which includes your own online store and step-by-step training to get you started. You also get access to ‘Oriflame Social’ where you can create and schedule your social media posts and analyze results.
If you want the starter kit the cost is £20 and includes lots of samples that you can share with friends and family along with some best-selling products for you to try yourself.
Why I got started with Oriflame
I had been with another MLM (for 9 years) that had recently gone into receivership. Long story short, the new owners made some terrible decisions and blamed ‘rough trading conditions’ but that was not true.
The business had been going for 95 years and would have gone for another 95 had this not happened. Some distributors were related to original team members! It was a British institution!
(Some of our senior leaders caught wind of this happening and joined doTerra but the rest of us didn’t believe it.)
We were in total shock, however, in the world of MLM, personal development is king and we all knew there was no time for tears and tantrums.
The key leaders researched the best opportunities and invited their teams to join what they considered the number one business to join – Oriflame.
Why did they pick Oriflame?
- It offers quality, consumable products
- It operates in 60+ countries
- Sales were booming (revenue was 1.3bn euro in 2018)
- There is an outstanding compensation plan
- There is a catalog showcasing products (our former company had a catalog so distributors could share it with existing customers)
- The cost to get started was is low
- Oriflame was forward-thinking – their social media sharing technology was really exciting
I had already heard of Oriflame because my very glamorous neighbor (in the apartment block I grew up in) was a distributor. I was super-impressed with anything Eileen did!
If you are interested in learning more about their history, check out the video below.
How does it work?
Like any legitimate MLM, as a distributor (Oriflame call Distributors ‘Brand Partners’), you have 2 ways to make money:
1) Retail the products for a commission
2) Sponsor others and receive a commission on their sales
It’s worth noting that you can’t just abandon your retail sales efforts when you start sponsoring. This is a common misconception – if no product moves no one gets paid!
Also, if you want to have any hope of success with your downline (those you have sponsored), you will have to lead the way!
Oriflame’s catalog can be passed around friends and family or even left in the local hairdressers, dentists, or doctors’ surgery. (I picked up some new customers from our local hairdressers.)
Alternatively, there is an opportunity to sign up online VIP customers. This is like a loyalty program where your VIPs get the best prices and earn points that they can use to order more products AND get free gifts from time to time.
Or you can promote your webshop in any way you choose.
What do customers say?
The online store has customer reviews which help prospective customers to make buying decisions. If you have a distributor nearby, they will often have samples so you can try before your buy.
One of the most attractive products is the Skin Care Sets that retail for £79 to £119 (and offer big savings to the customer compared with buying the items separately).
One of the biggest earning distributorships (based in Russia) focuses on selling Wellness Subscriptions. They had literally thousands of people signed up to receive a quarterly package of shakes and supplements.
Oriflame Compensation plan
To get you started, there is a fast start program where you can earn extra bonuses and products.
You earn 20% – 30% on your own retail sales (including any VIP customers you have introduced)
No matter what your level in Oriflame, the commission on your own retail sales will always be in this realm.
You will earn from 8% on the retail sales of any people you sponsor directly into your team.
To qualify you must have retailed a minimum of 100 BPs (bonus points) yourself. BPs are a measurement to keep everyone on a level playing field whether using Euros or GBP – it’s about 7% less than the cash value (but don’t quote me!)
There are various levels of Beauty Consultant (depending on the value of your retail sales and that of your downline) before you move up to management positions.
At the top of the scale, there is ‘Senior President Director’ who earns 12% on their first level downline right down to 1% at 5 levels deep.
Please click here for full details but bear in mind this is from 2019.
Incentives
Like most MLMs, Oriflame runs incentive trips to inspire distributors to achieve a certain amount of growth in their business.
In 2017 (in celebration of 50 years in business), they really pushed the boat out (sorry!) with a cruise traveling through 4 cities, 3 countries, and two continents! They chartered two cruise ships and took 6,000 distributors on the trip of a lifetime.
Aren’t all MLMs pyramid schemes?
No! If you are interested in finding out the difference between an MLM and a pyramid scheme, take a moment to read this post. Scroll about halfway down the page and you will find the difference between affiliate marketing, MLM, pyramid schemes, and Ponzi schemes.
Why I left
My problem was, that while I was good at sponsoring, most people didn’t take action – or took so little action that they didn’t see results and left.
Also, the catalogs worked for sure – I had enjoyed that side of the business but didn’t want to keep it up.
New people were not interested in the catalogs, but not many people had cracked online selling at that time.
Those who had cracked online selling were mostly doing it through Facebook live events. But when you sponsor someone new, they have to be able to immediately duplicate what you are doing, and very few newbies are comfortable with getting on Facebook live!
(Having just had a search around online, I found Digital Tips from 4 Oriflame Leaders!)
So, I had enough of sponsoring but how could I retail enough on my own to make decent money?
Selling products online using a blog
During one of the monthly webinars, there was a man who had personally retailed £1m worth of product. Without a team! That got my attention!
So I messaged him and asked how he did it and he said he did it with a blog using longtail keywords. So, can you guess what I did next?
Yes, I tried to build a website, got hopelessly stuck, and decided to call it quits.
I loved having a side hustle though so I started looking for something else. I stumbled across affiliate marketing and decided that was for me. If I succeed or fail, it is 100% up to me.
The only thing that put me off slightly? I had to build a website! You can find out how I overcame that challenge in How To Build A Website Free With No Tech Skills.
Should you join Oriflame?
If you fancy getting started in MLM, Oriflame would be one of the better options (the reasons our leaders decided to join still apply today). Also, Oriflame is number 9 in the Direct Selling News 2020 Global list of top-selling companies.
I have seen people start, do nothing, earn nothing, and leave. I also saw a new girl who was stacking supermarket shelves build a massive organization, quit her job in 3 months, then go on to make life-changing money.
Many fall into the middle category and make some money to pay for holidays or the kids’ dance lessons and have a more comfortable life.
The fact that the MLM bashers overlook is that everyone who joins has the same opportunity. The difference is what you do with it.
By getting in the right team you will give yourself the best chance of success. (Even if you only want to focus on retailing.)
Conclusion
Having said all that, if I joined another MLM today, the first thing I would do is start a blog and build a reputation as an authority on the problem the products solve.
I would write content, build an audience and when I had their trust, make recommendations (not only for the products I was selling). That way, people would be contacting me to buy the product and join the business rather than the other way round.
Are you thinking about joining Oriflame or are you already a distributor for them? If so, how do you go about retailing online? Do you have a blog? Please put your answers in the comments below.
For anyone struggling in MLM, check out my post How To Succeed With Network Marketing When Your Friends Don’t Support You.