Door-to-Door Retailing

Door-to-Door Retailing

This kind of retailing is as old as retailing itself and is still very common, although less so in recent times. A door-to-door salesperson may be self-employed or employed by a company and will usually specialize in a particular product group, often household items. Although it is common for them to visit houses, they may also sell to businesses.

Area of Coverage

Door-to-door salespeople can be split into two main groups. The first group are those that stay in one locality, selling to regular customers. Greengrocery or fresh meat sales are typically made by these local salespeople. They will have regular “rounds” and will try to time their visit so that they appear at a given location at the same time each week (or day or month). This way, customers may come to depend on them. The local door-to-door salesperson may also try to extend their round to take in more customers.

The second group are travelling salespeople. They may procure goods in a more opportunist way, taking advantage of a bargain when it comes along, or buying goods to coincide with environmental changes or particular events in the calendar. For instance, such a salesperson may sell warm clothes at the onset of cold weather but also sell gifts at festive times. Once they have sold their goods, or reached the point where they have few customers left to sell to, they will move to another area and repeat the process. As well as buying goods to sell on, they may also sell goods that they have made themselves or that their family or community have made. They also may provide services to customers, such as mending, sewing, light maintenance, knife sharpening etc.

Advantages

One advantage of being a door-to-door salesperson is that the overheads are relatively low. Some door-to-door salespeople will carry all of their stock on a vehicle but others may store it in their homes or a small warehouse (sometimes known as a “lock up”). They can also be flexible in the range that they can carry. This can allow them to be very up-to-date with the products that they can offer.

Disadvantages

Disadvantages include the lack of security in travelling door-to-door whilst carrying a high value of stock or money (some door-to-door salespeople can take card payments, thus reducing the risk of carrying a lot of money). Another disadvantage is that where a shop’s customers come to the shop, door-to-door salespeople spend a lot of valuable time and often transport costs visiting their customers - and there is no guarantee of a sale.

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