Tastefully Simple and Purium announced their official exits from the network marketing business model in favor of affiliate-only structures.
Tastefully Simple CEO Jill Blashack Strahan announced in a video last week that the company will be ending its direct sales channel on January 1st in favor of an affiliate-only model and wholesale operations. Tastefully Simple will no longer sponsor or build teams and will support Ambassadors through sharable shopping links.
This shift follows a previously announced hybrid structure that took effect in January 2025 and retained a small group of heritage leaders who could still build teams of first-line Ambassadors. The goal of that model was to meet the needs of a younger generation of sellers seeking a flexible side gig and income potential without the demands of leadership.
Now, Tastefully Simple Ambassadors will be Ambassador Affiliates who will receive a special commission with the option to become wholesalers.
In an online statement, Amy Venner and Dave Sandoval, Purium Co-Founders, stated that they “didn’t want to leave network marketing” but that the model “was no longer financial sustainable.”
“For the past two years, we have been working to turn things around,” Venner and Sandoval wrote in a joint statement. “We cut expenses wherever we could, restructured the compensation plan, changed how we ran our operations and reduced the amount of inventory we carried. We also borrowed money and put substantial personal resources into keeping the company going. During that time, we watched sales decline, recruiting slow down and fewer people advance through the ranks. We kept looking for ways to reverse those trends because we believed we could make it work.”
Venner and Sandoval stated that they considered joining forces with a “much larger international network marketing company” but ultimately felt that the agreement would not protect the integrity of their products, formulas and organic ingredients.
Purium’s affiliate model began on October 31, 2026 and now includes everyday pricing, a new shopping experience and an affiliate program that allows people to earn through customer referrals. The new structure eliminates monthly qualifying orders and team building, but the company’s community will continue to exist through weekly Zoom calls.
“We have work ahead of us, and not everything will be perfect on day one,” wrote Venner and Sandoval. “We also have a path forward and people who want to help us build it.”
