Adult toys themed Pure Romance has ditched its MLM business model.

Speaking with WWD in an April 28th published interview, CEO Chris Cicchinelli cited the “anti-MLM movement” as a contributing factor.

 Over the past three to five years, we’ve seen this kind of movement around people talking about anti-MLM, and it was becoming more of a hindrance for us to reach a generation that needs education, that needs our products and needs the things that we’re able to provide.

Ciccinelli (right) also claimed that only 1% of Pure Romance’s distributors qualified for MLM commissions.

It didn’t make sense to have this label on where 99 percent of people were selling product and being able to do what they love.

Pure Romance’s changes to its business model became effective May 1st. I learned of the transition a few days ago along with everybody else, but figured I’d wait a bit for the dust to settle before taking a look.

Going forward, Pure Romance is essentially a retail only business model.

The party plan business model is still there, with distributors paid on sales to retail customers who attend the parties.

Commissions can also be generated via direct and online replicated storefront retail sales.

Retail commissions appear to have been bumped up to 40% to 50%, depending on monthly retail sales:

Pure Romance distributors also receive a 10% credit on products if their party sales exceed $250 (per party).

The other significant change is Pure Romance, through its own website, will now also compete directly against its own distributors.

All products are available for purchase on the Company’s website or through Consultants.

I haven’t really seen anyone complaining about Pure Romance ditching MLM. Typically when this happens we see distributors moaning about little to no notice and destroyed businesses.

If Pure Romance really did only have 1% of distributors qualifying for MLM commissions, perhaps this time they read the room correctly.