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Direct selling continues to grow and evolve, year over year. A recent report detailing consumer behaviors looks at future trends that will help shape the industry. So what are the shopping trends that your direct selling business needs to be aware of to keep competitive?

4 U.S. consumer trends impacting the direct selling industry

E-commerce product delivery has evolved to the point that customers don’t just expect their purchase to arrive quickly; they expect it to arrive for free. So how can your online retail business keep up with competitors who offer free two-day shipping? Managed customer pick-up centers could be the solution.

It’s evident: The traditional retail industry must adapt or end up like the dinosaur. The retail-store bubble has burst, and — as store space has become more burdensome — businesses are looking for omnichannel strategies to keep up with consumers’ evolving shopping habits.

Direct selling is an industry that continues to grow, year in, year out. With estimated retail sales of over $35 billion in 2015 — a 4.8 percent increase from 2014 — direct selling has now outpaced traditional retail sales. So how can your business keep up with this growth trend and even expand?

When thinking of the holiday shopping season, the time frame between Thanksgiving and Christmas is probably the first to come to mind. But what about Easter? If the Easter shopping season isn’t on your radar, your business may be missing out on an increasingly ripe opportunity for e-commerce sales.

At this point, your business is out of the weeds. You recognize what you need to do in order to be successful — and certainly the things you need to avoid. But even for a business that is seemingly doing all the right things, you still may question if expanding is the right move.

The prospect of expanding your business can be both exciting and nerve wracking. But, if the signs are present, then this may be the right time to grow your business.

The average value for an online purchase in the U.S. is just over $85. Would you leave $85 lying out in the open for anyone to take? Probably not. Yet we do this on an almost daily basis with packages that have equal and sometimes greater value, as they are left unattended on porches and front steps.

Recent studies show that people enjoy making their purchases online, but going in store to pick up their item. Reasons range from convenience, to cost savings, to security.

Take a look at the latest trends in retail, and one fact becomes abundantly clear: e-commerce is the only place where substantial growth is occurring. With double-digit growth annually over the past few years, e-commerce is the future of retail. 

But not all e-commerce is created equal. By that I mean not every e-commerce business knows what it takes to be successful in the current customer-centered climate. 

The United States is the biggest consumer market in the world. But the demographic makeup of our nation's consumers is changing — and fast.  

Six years ago, for the first time in U.S. history, the majority of children under age 1 were non-white. Three years from now, statisticians say a majority of all children in the United States will be non-white. And by 2050, it’s estimated that whites will be a minority of the United States population for the first time.