Our rich history says it will start with leaders willing to take risks. Today, six frontiers stand out. Two involve new strategic approaches while the remaining four are product category opportunities that could fuel growth.

As 2025 draws to a close, the direct selling channel finds itself in a period of meaningful transformation—shaped by rapid technological advancement, shifting consumer expectations, economic pressures and renewed clarity around where future growth will come from.

At DSN's Future of Commerce Deep Dive—held November 19 in Lehi, Utah—we addressed commerce as a whole—the complete ecosystem of technology, payments, finance, taxes, logistics and products working together. Because for commerce to truly thrive, every one of these components must evolve in harmony.

Across the channel, companies that introduce equity initiatives consistently report the same benefits: a more inclusive culture, a deeper sense of contribution, improved field performance, higher retention through vesting, greater continuity of tribal knowledge and a powerful alignment between personal effort and enterprise value.

Social commerce is a new term for a new era. But it is also a powerful signal to the outside world that the way people shop has permanently changed, and direct selling is uniquely positioned to lead—not follow—in this transformation.

Direct Selling University’s (DSU) Fall 2025 event was an electrifying blend of innovation, inspiration and industry connection, welcoming hundreds of leaders from across the channel to explore cutting-edge trends and come together to chart the future of the industry.

Services have become the most consistent source of growth and stability in direct selling, outpacing nearly every other category and now representing more than $30 billion in annual US revenue. This isn’t happening in a vacuum. More than 70 percent of the US economy is services based, and the direct selling channel now mirrors that transformation—60 percent of the channel’s total volume now comes from services rather than products.

The past two years have been a season of resets. Bankruptcies, closures and pivots captured the headlines, but another equally important story has been consolidation. While the word can feel like a euphemism for weakness, the reality is more nuanced.

Over the past 18 months, direct selling has endured one of the most turbulent periods in its modern history. Closures, pivots and private equity shakeups have fueled unease and speculation about decline. Yet the real story is far more nuanced: direct selling isn’t shrinking—it’s evolving.

As more educated, ambitious and driven professionals become displaced by the proliferation of AI automation, these bright people will be looking for new opportunities where they can utilize their people skills and chart their own course. Many will be starting over, looking for a career that will value what they have to offer. One that won’t be suddenly rendered obsolete by technology.

FieldWatch announced today a strategic partnership with Direct Selling News and Direct Selling University. This collaboration marks a major milestone in aligning technology, education, and thought leadership to help companies navigate an increasingly complex regulatory environment.

As you know, we recently released the results of our first half of 2025 Year-over-Year Quick Poll. I personally reached out to 100 companies with a minimum of $50 million Annual Revenue Run Rate (ARR) in North America and asked them how they are doing, inviting them to share an anonymous snapshot of their revenue compared year-over-year.