Nikken, a wellness products direct selling company which has recently officially entered the Romanian market, plans to reach a network of at least 3,000 consultants in Romania, from the current network of around 700 people, Romania-Insider.com has learned.  Nikken currently operates directly from its UK based company Nikken UK Ltd, while being registered for VAT in Romania and having products approved by Romanian authorities, Janne Heimonen, head of sales and marketing with Nikken Europe told Romania-Insider.com.

“ We have around 200 – 250 consultants in Romania actively earning bonuses each month at the moment. Another 300 - 500 are placing orders and perhaps selling products at retail but not actively building so they earn commissions,” according to Heimonen.

He believes Romania can become one of the company's top three-four markets in Europe within two to three year years. “The development is very good for the moment but we have only started and should be able to double sales in the next two years,” says Heimonen.

Nikken's sales in Romania for December last year reached RON 1 million – around EUR 230,000. The best selling product was the PiMag water filter, followed by basic magnetic products. “The average order from a consultant to us, in wholesale price excluding VAT, is around 700 RON (EUR 164),” Heimonen adds.

Nikken initially approached the Romanian market in 2005. “We were at the time trialling a method of expanding rapidly to new countries using a “limited service” model for countries where we saw there was enough interest for us to supply products. We would not open these countries fully at once, but enter gradually,” says Janne Heimonen. Romania ended up in between the countries that then became fully opened markets and Nikken stopping that project. Nikken operated in Romania from 2005 for four years, but without offering its Romanian consultants full support. “Based on the pioneering work by some hard working consultants who refused to give up during this time and insisted that we open the market officially, we did finally decide to open the market fully in 2009,” Heimonen goes on.

Nikken had its opening ceremony in Cluj in September 2010 and plans to launch a new Romanian starter kit in March this year.

Nikken's direct sales structure offers a 25 percent retail profit to new consultants when selling products to end customers. “They can earn an additional personal commission of up to 20 percent on the “commission value” of each product (based on the consultant price), depending on which rank they have reached in our commission structure. The highest personal commission, 20 percent, you get when you reach the rank of “Silver”,” according to the sales and marketing director.

Nikken was set up in 1975, when Japanese Isamu Masuda invented the Magsteps, a product which treats sore feet and fatigue. In 1989, Nikken opened its first office in the US and began spreading worldwide. More about Nikken on their website here.

Several other direct selling companies are active on the Romanian market: Avon, Oriflame, Amaway, Zepter and Forever Living Products.

Corina Saceanu, corina@romania-insider.com