Social commerce isn’t replacing direct selling. It’s giving us new ways to do what we already do best.
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When my family entered direct selling in Venezuela in the 1990s, social commerce obviously wasn’t part of the conversation. My parents built a team and eventually became Tupperware’s number one distributors in Latin America.
Later, my father moved to the corporate side because he wanted to understand that part of the business, too. Ultimately, our family launched our own direct selling company in Venezuela, and after political and economic conditions forced us to close that operation, we started MONAT in the United States in 2014.
The tools have changed dramatically over that time, but the fundamentals haven’t changed nearly as much. Direct selling has always been about real people sharing products, talking about their experiences and building relationships. That is why—when we began looking seriously at social commerce—it didn’t feel like we were moving away from direct selling. In many ways, it felt surprisingly familiar.
Social commerce gives brands the opportunity to meet customers where they already are. People spend hours on social platforms discovering products, watching demonstrations, reading and watching reviews and deciding what they want to buy. Platforms such as TikTok have simply shortened the distance between those activities and the transaction. Discovery, recommendation and purchase can now happen in the same place.
That creates a significant opportunity. But capturing it requires us to evolve without losing sight of what made this model work in the first place.
Authenticity Wins
One of the clearest things we have learned is that consumers want authenticity. For years, people went to Google to research a product and read reviews before making a purchase. Today, they can watch a real person use that product; explain why they like it; and demonstrate the results. That feels more personal, and it has become an important part of how people make purchasing decisions.
Our data reinforces that. When affiliates create highly polished, heavily produced content, it generally does not perform as well as content that feels natural. Someone standing in the kitchen, bathroom or car talking honestly about a product can generate more reach, engagement and sales than something that looks like a commercial.
AI makes that dynamic even more interesting. Platforms are giving brands and creators AI tools to produce content, and AI certainly has valuable applications throughout sales and marketing. But we are also seeing consumers become very good at recognizing what people sometimes call “AI slop.” Younger consumers in particular can spot content that doesn’t feel real, and they tune it out quickly.
That doesn’t mean AI isn’t useful. At MONAT, we use it for research and problem solving. But when it comes to the customer-facing content that creates trust, real people still have an enormous advantage. Direct selling should recognize that advantage because authenticity has always been one of our superpowers.
Start Before You Have All the Answers
When we first explored TikTok Shop, we did a tremendous amount of research. We studied the platform, asked questions, talked with our technology teams and—yes—used our “$20 consultant,” ChatGPT to help us understand how different pieces might work. But eventually research reaches its limit.
Our philosophy was simple: Don’t wait until things are perfect because you’re never going to do it. We didn’t have every answer, and we decided we didn’t need to in order to get started.
That mindset was important because social commerce is moving too quickly for companies to spend a year designing the perfect strategy before testing. Some of the things we tried didn’t work the way we expected. That was okay. We learned. We adjusted. And, most importantly, we kept going.
We also had an advantage: some MONAT Market Partners were already active on TikTok. Rather than developing the entire strategy internally and presenting it to the field as a finished program, we invited some of those creators into a pilot group. They had audiences ranging from relatively small followings to very large ones, and they understood the platform in ways we didn’t.
We told them what we wanted to accomplish, listened to their feedback and built the program with them. That transparency mattered later because the launch didn’t feel like something corporate had suddenly decided to do. We had Market Partners who understood the strategy; had helped shape it; and could articulate the opportunity.
Let the Platform Teach You
Social commerce also challenges some of the assumptions companies make about their own products. A bestseller in your traditional business will not necessarily be a bestseller on TikTok Shop.
We learned that firsthand. One of our products that sits within our top ten in the traditional business became our number one product on TikTok Shop. Why the bump? We think a relatively accessible price point and the immediacy of the product experience contribute to the appeal. At the same time, one of our top three products in the traditional business has gained very little traction there.
Initially, that was difficult to understand. We spent months trying to push a product because we knew how successful it was elsewhere. Eventually, the market gave us the answer: stop forcing it.
That has been one of the most useful parts of this process. Social commerce provides another stream of consumer behavior we can learn from. It can influence how we think about product development, pricing, positioning and future launches without dictating every decision.
The goal isn’t to turn the entire product strategy over to an algorithm. It’s to pay attention when customers are telling you something.
The same applies to content. We originally heard that videos needed to be short because nobody would watch longer content. Now we see two- and even two-and-a-half-minute videos succeed when they have a strong hook and keep people engaged. There isn’t one formula. You test, learn and double down on what works.
A Volume Game
There is another lesson from social commerce that should sound very familiar to anyone in direct selling: consistency matters.
Creators cannot expect one successful video to keep producing forever. Platforms reward activity, so affiliates need to continually create new content, test new hooks and experiment with different ways of presenting products. Not every video will generate a sale. In fact, we tell new affiliates that they may not make a sale during their first month—and that’s okay.
Because that first month is still productive. They are showing the algorithm they’re active while learning what good content looks like for them. Each video creates another opportunity to understand which products, hooks, formats and messages resonate.
It’s a volume game. You need to be posting a lot. And that principle is not fundamentally different from traditional direct selling. Nobody expects to join a direct selling company, talk to two people and immediately build a significant organization.
Success has always required consistency, repetition, learning and a willingness to keep going when every effort doesn’t produce an immediate result. Social commerce introduces new tools, but many of the behaviors are remarkably familiar.
Training therefore becomes critical. We provide a monthly basics training because new people are continually entering the program, then we supplement that with weekly training around content, hooks, campaigns, promotions and what is working. The platform changes quickly, so education must keep pace.
Protect the Main Thing
The biggest concern we heard from some Market Partners was understandable: Is MONAT becoming an affiliate company?
We were very clear from the beginning that the answer to that was an emphatic no. Direct selling remains our primary model. Social commerce is an additional channel that allows Market Partners to reach people they might never encounter through their existing networks, particularly younger audiences and consumers spending more of their time on platforms such as TikTok.
That is why I use the phrase complement, not compete. Social commerce can generate a product sale, but it can also start a relationship. A new customer can discover MONAT through TikTok Shop and later become a Preferred Customer or Market Partner. Someone who loves creating content but has no interest in recruiting can simply sell. Someone who wants to build a traditional organization can continue doing that while using social commerce as another resource for customers and leads.
We haven’t had to dismantle our existing model to make room for this one. That was essential to getting field buy-in, and I think it is an important lesson for other direct selling companies considering the same move.
The operational side does require work. These platforms were not designed specifically around direct selling compensation structures, so companies should expect technology and commission teams to be deeply involved.
In our experience, some custom middleware is necessary to make the systems communicate correctly. Social commerce cannot simply be handed to marketing as a side project. You need to make it part of the same thing you’re doing.
That may be the most important lesson we have learned. Once we began seeing traction, we brought social commerce more fully into recognition, training, monthly calls and the broader organization. It still complements our traditional business, but it is no longer treated like an experiment happening somewhere off to the side.
Early Is an Advantage
MONAT has been working in this space for roughly a year and a half, and I still believe we are very early. Major brands are entering social commerce; platforms are adding capabilities; and live shopping continues to grow. As more companies arrive, competition for attention will only increase.
But that window won’t stay open indefinitely. I believe direct selling companies have the next six months to a year to get into this space or risk becoming irrelevant. More and more big companies are joining, and you need time to catch up and learn. There’s a lot to learn. You want to join now before it gets crowded with more mainstream brands.
For direct selling companies that are still evaluating the opportunity, my advice is simple: start learning now. Research the platforms. Talk to your field members who are already creating there. Bring technology, commissions, marketing and other key executives into the conversation. Test products and content. Accept that some things won’t work and learn from them quickly.
Five years from now, I expect a much larger percentage of direct sellers to participate in social commerce. But I also think something else will happen at the same time. As people spend more of their lives online, authentic in-person connection is becoming valuable again.
The future doesn’t have to be digital or personal. It can and should be both. The companies that understand how to bring those worlds together—using new platforms to expand reach while protecting the relationships at the heart of the model—will be in the strongest position to grow.
With a background in international business, logistics and information technology, JAVIER URDANETA serves as MONAT’s Chief of Staff and SVP of Emerging Markets. As a team player with a “whatever it takes” attitude, Javier works cross functionally to support every global department reach company goals.
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