Direct selling is a growing and exciting industry that provides companies an alternative channel of the distribution and sale of products and/or services directly to customers, away from a traditional retail location. The industry allows businesses to connect with customers one-on-one – be it in person, online, by phone or through catalogue sales. This ‘connection’ to customers is achieved through independent distributors. At QNet, they are referred to as Independent Representatives (IRs).
In emerging markets, direct sales companies and distributors benefit from both strong market growth and an attractive earning opportunity, while the region itself benefits from skill development and increased self-sufficiency of its people. In more mature markets, direct selling creates a truly unique distribution method that fosters community interaction while bringing additional income, personal growth, and peer recognition to distributors.
The direct selling profession is a viable option for people of all ages and genders and from all income and education levels. The industry emerged as a way to deliver products to customers in a personalised, ‘direct’ manner and has never stopped growing. Throughout its long history, direct selling has proven itself time and time again as a resilient profession, particularly in times of economic difficulty.
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In the late ‘90s, a small but ambitious company was born amidst the Asian financial crisis and at a time still remembered for ‘bursting the dot-com bubble’.
While traditional and online businesses throughout Asia were closing their doors, the journey had only just begun for this innovative and determined Philippine-based direct selling company.
With a vision to change the lives of people around the globe, this company combined the potential of the Internet and e-commerce with the powerful business model of network marketing.
More than a decade later, with international operations and a customer base of millions, this ‘small but ambitious company’ is anything but small and perhaps even more ambitious than ever. An exclusive and exhaustive portfolio of innovative products continues to evolve to meet the lifestyle and wellness needs of our customers and distributors; our products support the seamless QNet compensation plan that serves as a vehicle for entrepreneurs to take control of their lives and finances.
Utilising the modality of business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce, the company began in 1998 with an initial offering of high-value coins and medallions of superior quality and collectible potential. The company quickly established itself as one of the world’s leading numismatics companies, with official distribution rights to commemorative coin programmes for the Olympic Games (2000, 2004, 2008) the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), and the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). In 2000, the company formalised a strategic alliance with B.H. Mayer’s Mint, Germany – one of the oldest privately owned mints in Europe and now the exclusive producer of the company’s coins and medallion brand, JR Mayer Collections®.
In 2002, the company expanded its popular product range to include vacation packages and holiday exchange programmes through the QVI Club brand, and in 2006 – as a result of a multimillion investment by the QI Group in a resort in Koh Samui, Thailand – Prana Resorts & Spa was exclusively added to the QVI Club list of Home Resorts. The initial investment by the QI Group included the entire renovation, expansion, re-naming, re-branding and re-opening of the resort. Prana is the first resort in what is set to be a chain of completely vegetarian wellness resorts.
By 2004, the company had introduced another product line to its stable; the Bernhard H. Mayer® luxury brand of watches and jewellery has today developed into a world-class icon representing quality, exclusivity and value. In 2006, the QI Group acquired a Swiss watch manufacturer in Zug, Switzerland, which solidified the QNet watch range to allow complete in-house design and manufacturing of Swiss-made Bernhard H. Mayer® watches by skilled horologists and craftsmen.
In 2005, the QI Group acquired a UK-based independent telecommunications provider with a strong background in providing advanced communications solutions and technology in the United Kingdom. In the years that have followed, this investment has been responsible for QNet’s world-class technologies provided through its In-Voice telecommunications brand, which had been launched in 2004 and offers mobile phones and economical Internet-based communications.
The company’s product portfolio was further enhanced in 2006 by the introduction of a unique wellness product line, branded Amezcua, which is considered revolutionary in its function of enhancing the quality and energy levels of water and the human body. Today, Amezcua has proven to be among the most popular product lines sold by QNet. Since 2006, two more original energy brands have been introduced: the Himalayan Crystal CollectionTM natural energy jewellery range and Veloci-Ti energised titanium performance pendants. Both take the concept of wellness and energy a step further by combining innovative wellness aspects with fine jewellery designs.
The year 2008 saw expansion into consumable and household products with new and exclusive product lines of nutrition, skin care, body care, cosmetics and home care. The popularity of these products has resulted in even more customers being attracted to the company’s product portfolio, regardless of whether or not they avail themselves of the inherent business opportunity.
This evolution and diversification of product lines, combined with the company’s active localisation-within-globalisation operational strategy, was the catalyst in 2010 for the company to undergo a strategic repositioning and rebranding. Formerly known as QuestNet, 2010 saw the arrival of QNet to reflect the natural progression and shifting business model of the company.
Today, QNet is a modern and progressive player on a global scale, and a clear leader and positive influencer within the Asian direct selling profession, particularly in countries throughout the world in which direct selling and network marketing are relatively new concepts.
Through public education campaigns and awareness activities, QNet is playing a proactive role in introducing the independent business opportunity of direct selling into new markets, consequently contributing to local economies and to the social advancement of both developing and developed nations. At the same time, QNet is also moving into other, more developed markets in which the direct selling profession is well rooted within the community and widely recognised as a viable and professional business option for entrepreneurs.
Throughout its dynamic history, the company’s commitment to RYTHM has never faltered, and QNet continues to strengthen its ties in the communities in which it operates through meaningful Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities and contributions.
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