A South Korean cosmetics firm is making a important thrust into Britain, and statements that all those who signal up to be a product sales reps can earn hundreds in commission just about every 7 days, and bonuses of up to £720,000.

Established in 2009, Atomy has become just one of the world’s biggest “multilevel marketing” (Multilevel marketing) firms – exactly where men and women make income by marketing things and obtaining persons to indication up – and promises to have 15 million users globally.

Soon after launching in the US, Canada, Australia and other territories, it has established its sights on the British isles and Europe, and states tens of countless numbers of men and women have by now signed up.

It is the most recent in a line of direct-profits natural beauty organizations likely to especially catch the attention of gals who may well be battling economically and looking for new ways of earning funds – a craze that has been accelerated by the pandemic.

The company’s start video clips and marketing materials emphasise the massive sums it claims can most likely be attained as a “distributor” – like, for all those who achieve the best of the programme, six-figure funds bonuses and benefits, these types of as a individual assistant and own driver.

Multilevel marketing schemes are generally built up of significant quantities of people providing goods these kinds of as splendor and cleaning products, candles and textbooks, from home. They are controversial, and in the United kingdom there are scores of people today and teams campaigning towards them on social media.

Campaigning group Hey Hun… #BanTheScam claims Multi level marketing is a “predatory enterprise model” that ought to be banned, and is arranging a protest in central London on 28 August.

In the meantime, yet another critic of this sort of scheme informed the Observer that, in his impression, Atomy was an “economic cult”. Nonetheless, there is no proof that any Uk authorities are investigating MLMs.

Critics have labelled them “pyramid schemes”, but Atomy denies this. It describes by itself as “a shopper-oriented network marketing company”, including that individuals can sign up for for absolutely free, with no obligation to promote items, and that the broad greater part of its consumers are “consumer-only” – that is, not earning fee from sales. It held its official launch event at the New Theatre Royal in Portsmouth on 28 July.

The United kingdom enterprise is named Atomy Distribution. It has an business in Guildford and ideas to maintain seminars the place people can find out extra about this “business opportunity”.

It specialises in natural beauty and skincare products and solutions and well being health supplements, and states it is offering persons the chance to turn into their individual boss and gain supplemental income by turning out to be a distributor.

In its movie message to likely recruits, it statements that by means of its payment plan, “you will be able to fulfil all the desires in your daily life scenario”.

In very simple conditions, customers make points from their own purchases and from purchases produced by their “legs” – that is, the staff of consumers they have recruited as members.

Details then translate into commission and other payments.

In advance of you can start off earning commission, you want a bare minimum quantity of individual points, moreover all those for each and every of your legs.

However contrary to some similar providers, members invest in from an on line “shopping mall”, not from a further distributor. This means that distributors do not have to maintain, and shell out for, stock that they could hardly ever take care of to market.

Atomy has five degrees of revenue rep, known as “dealerships,” and 7 “masterships”, every single with its individual rules.

There is a sophisticated process of fee payments, bonuses and other incentives.

In one movie, Ruby McGrath, the United kingdom and Europe running director, says that in terms of basic commission, distributors get a “score” for reaching each and every dealership, and each rating is “roughly about” five US pounds. “The utmost score you can generate per working day is 300,” she provides. This indicates a optimum of $1,500 (£1,080) commission a working day.

Then there are the mastership bonuses, described as “once-in-a-lifetime” awards for achieving each and every level. People reaching the cheapest rung get some organization products and solutions, although Atomy statements those achieving the top rung, acknowledged as “imperial master” status, would get £720,000 money, furthermore other positive aspects like “office rental, private assistant and driver hire”.

To be a part of, an personal should deliver the membership selection of the particular person who is referring them.

Atomy’s web site claims it delivers a lot more than 400 goods, although very last week the shopping mall on the United kingdom internet site appeared to record a more compact range, from £5 for 4 tubes of toothpaste to £180 for the “Absolute Skincare Set”.

The British isles launch film on YouTube includes a sequence exactly where the business bosses consider afternoon tea with “a incredibly special guest” – who turns out to be a lookalike of the Queen. The lookalike flicks through an Atomy brochure while drinking tea and ingesting sandwiches on the terrace of a stately house, and is then delighted to be introduced with a basket of the company’s items.

The British isles trade body for the direct income sector, the Direct Providing Association (DSA) – whose members consist of cosmetics business Avon and the well being and elegance agency Amway – estimates there are 631,000 direct sellers in the British isles, 96% of whom are feminine. The DSA is an association controlled by its customers, and operates a code of conduct with which they have to comply.

The Observer requested the DSA if it was mindful of Atomy British isles and no matter whether it had applied for membership. It replied that “this corporation is not recognised to us”.

The DSA has said, in the earlier, that though multilevel internet marketing constructions “may feel very similar to pyramid techniques,” – which are unlawful in the United kingdom – “in truth they are substantially diverse and are much more similar to a typical company organization model”.

The US-centered Immediate Marketing Information web page just lately published a “Global 100” record of immediate gross sales businesses which highlighted Amway in to start with location and Atomy at 12. The web site mentioned that in 2020, Atomy’s once-a-year revenue was $1.48bn (£1.06bn).

David Brear, who describes himself as an author who has analyzed cults, advised the Observer that, in his belief, Atomy was an “economic cult” that was peddling a “cruel illusion”.

However, McGrath claims that “you don’t have to be a distributor member to delight in Atomy’s products and solutions,” and that “97% of our shoppers are customer-only (ie, non-commission earning)”.

She adds: “Our members like our products and solutions and advocate them to men and women to try out … there is no pushing people today to purchase, no signing up for fee, no stock holding, no minimum need to order any merchandise.

“Additionally, in contrast to other community promoting organizations, our consumers obtain by means of the on the internet buying shopping mall, not by way of a individual.”

McGrath says that of the $1,500 most fee a working day that “reaching this amount requires a large amount of hard function and dedication. Typically, for someone to make Atomy their complete-time work, we would say it normally takes in excess of three years of devotion and really hard work”.

She additional that Atomy was “looking into” applying to be a part of the DSA.