Modere have terminated business operations across most of Asia, leaving Japan standing as the company’s sole surviving market across the continent.

The news slipped under the radar until I became aware of it via a tip from one of our readers.

As best I can tell, Modere made the announcement either in late 2017 or early 2018.

Modere’s business operations were formally wound up in Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia on January 31st, 2018.

The official reason given for the closure is the implementation of

a global strategic plan which creates a focus on (Modere’s) core growth markets.

Reading between the lines, it appears Modere’s business model simply wasn’t viable outside of Japan.

This is reflected in the Alexa traffic rankings for Modere’s various localized websites across Asia (the lower the rank the higher number of visitors to the site):

  • Modere Korea – 11.7 million
  • Modere Thailand – 13.2 million
  • Modere Hong Kong – 17.3 million
  • Modere Taiwan – 7.1 million
  • Modere Singapore – unranked (too high)
  • Modere Malaysia – 3.8 million

For a reference point, anything above 1 million is pretty quiet.

Modere Japan ranks just above 321,000 and their primary US website is at 159,482.

Interestingly the websites for Modere’s closed markets are still up. And if you visit any of them, you’re presented with a localized language pop-up with states:

Starting today, Modere has implemented a global strategic plan that focuses on our core growth markets and has decided that the following markets will be temporarily closed: South Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia.

Modere is committed to long-term success in all markets. As market conditions and timing are right, reinvest in business again as we look forward to continuing to work with you to achieve the goal of creating 10 million Moderate Healthy Homes.

The “Social Marketer FAQ” the company sent out however doesn’t hold the same level of optimism.

If the Alexa ranks for their closed Asian markets above are anything to go by, it doesn’t seem like Modere would have much of a business to return to.

Personally I do find Modere’s closures somewhat surprising.

BehindMLM reviewed Modere in late 2014 and found its business model tilted toward affiliate autoship recruitment.

Traditionally this business model tends to do well in Asia, where MLM regulation is much less defined.