A reader reached out wondering if Modere had rebooted itself as “Shifting Retail” (sometimes “social retail”).

I looked into it and found it was just a new marketing campaign:

Figuring BehindMLM’s original Modere review was published back in 2014, I figured it was a good excuse to revisit the company.

One of the key criticisms I had back in 2014 was Modere’s focus on autoship recruitment. Shifting Retail sounds like the company might have evolved.

Let’s find out.

The Company

Modere fails to provide corporate information on its website – both the Modere website and Shifting Retail standalone website.

Back in 2014 Modere was headed up by CEO Robert Conlee (right).

In addition to CEO, on LinkedIn Conlee cites himself as Modere’s Chairman of the Board.

I ran a search to see if Conley was mentioned anywhere on Modere’s website. He is, in a 2016 blog post about an FDA warning.

The FDA lately issued a final ruling on the ultimate effectiveness and safety of antibacterial soaps. They moved to ban triclosan and triclocarban – two of the most common (and potentially dangerous) ingredients – within over-the-counter antibacterial products.

Robert Conlee, Modere’s CEO, responded to the FDA announcement with the following statement …

The FDA’s ruling had nothing to do with Modere. It was about prohibition of triclosan, which Modere was springboarding off for marketing (“it’s more important to us than ever before to continue creating safe products with safe ingredients”).

Modere did run into regulatory trouble over COVID-19 misinformation in 2020. In 2021 Modere and a raft of other MLM companies also came under fire for deceptive and unfair conduct.

In 2017 Modere expanded it’s business through the acquisition of Jusuru.

In 2018 Modere announced it was ceasing business operations across Asia (excluding Japan).

In 2020 rival MLM company Isagenix accused Modere of raiding. A lawsuit was filed but subsequently dropped a few months later.

Today Modere is operational in the US, Canada, Australia, Japan, Europe, the UK, New Zealand and India.

Alexa website traffic analysis suggests Modere is primarily active in the US (86%), followed by Canada (6%) and Belgium (2%).

Modere’s Products

To date, Modere claims to have generated $6 billion dollars in product sales.

Modere’s product range doesn’t seem to have changed much since 2014. At least not with respect to product categories.

Modere’s product categories on offer are:

  • weight loss
  • personal care
  • health and wellness and
  • household

The “quick shop” section of Modere’s website lists 310 products.

This includes discounted value packs but is still far too many to list here individually.

For those interested Modere’s full product catalog is available on its website. This includes retail pricing.

Modere’s Compensation Plan

Modere’s compensation plan provides multi-tiered retail commissions and bonuses.

Residual commissions are paid out via a unilevel team, with additional performance based bonuses on offer.

Modere Affiliate Ranks

There are ten affiliate ranks within Modere’s compensation plan.

Along with their respective qualification criteria, they are as follows:

  1. Consultant – sign up as a Modere affiliate and generate and maintain 150 PV a month (new customer orders only), or a 75 PV monthly personal autoship order
  2. Senior Consultant – recruit and maintain one Consultant, and generate and maintain 1500 GV a month (max 750 GV from any one recruitment leg)
  3. Team Leader – maintain one personally recruited Consultant and generate and maintain 3000 GV a month (max 1500 GV from any one recruitment leg)
  4. Senior Team Leader – recruit and maintain one Senior Consultant, and generate and maintain 6000 GV a month (max 3000 GV from any one recruitment leg)
  5. Director 1 – recruit and maintain one Team Leader, and generate and maintain 12,000 GV a month (max 7000 GV from any one recruitment leg)
  6. Director 2 – recruit and maintain one Team Leader or higher, have another unilevel team leg with a Team Leader or higher in it, and generate and maintain 25,000 GV a month (max 15,000 GV from any one recruitment leg)
  7. Director 3 – recruit and maintain one Team Leader or higher, have another two unilevel team legs with one Team Leader or higher in each, and generate and maintain 50,000 GV a month (max 35,000 GV from any one recruitment leg)
  8. Elite 1 – maintain one personally recruited Team Leader or higher, maintain another two unilevel team legs with a Team Leader or higher in each, and generate and maintain 100,000 GV a month (max 70,000 GV from any one recruitment leg)
  9. Elite 2 – maintain one personally recruited Team Leader or higher, maintain another two unilevel team legs with a Team Leader or higher in each, and generate and maintain 200,000 GV a month (max 140,000 GV from any one recruitment leg)
  10. Elite 3 – maintain one personally recruited Team Leader or higher, maintain another two unilevel team legs with a Team Leader or higher in each, and generate and maintain 400,000 GV a month (max 280,000 GV from any one recruitment leg)

PV stands for “Personal Volume”. Personal Volume is sales volume generated via retail sales and an affiliate’s own orders (including autoship).

GV stands for “Group Volume”. Group Volume is PV generated by a Modere affiliate and their downline.

Retail Commissions

Modere pays a base 10% retail commission.

This rate can be increased to 36%, based on total active retail customers for the month:

  • Promoter – generate up to 499 PV in retail order volume with at least one retail customer and receive the base 10% retail commission rate
  • Bronze – generate at least 500 PV in retail order volume across at least five retail customers and receive an 18% retail commission rate
  • Silver – generate at least 1000 PV in retail order volume across at least five retail customers and receive a 20% retail commission rate
  • Gold – generate at least 2000 PV in retail order volume across at least ten retail customers and receive a 22% retail commission rate
  • Platinum – generate at least 3000 PV in retail order volume across at least fifteen retail customers and receive a 30% retail commission rate
  • Platinum 1 – generate at least 5000 PV in retail order volume across at least twenty-five retail customers and receive a 32% retail commission rate
  • Platinum 2 – generate at least 7000 PV in retail order volume across at least thirty-five retail customers and receive a 34% retail commission rate
  • Platinum 3 – generate at least 9000 PV in retail order volume across at least forty-five retail customers and receive a 36% retail commission rate

To count towards the above tier qualification, retail customers must have purchased at least one product over the current month.

Live Clean Shopping Credits

Live Clean Shopping Credits are awarded to Bronze and higher retail commission ranked affiliates each month.

For retail commission rank details see “Retail Commissions” above.

  • qualify at Bronze and receive $50 in Live Clean Product Credit
  • qualify at Silver and receive $75 in Live Clean Product Credit
  • qualify at Gold and receive $100 in Live Clean Product Credit
  • qualify at Platinum and receive $100 in Live Clean Product Credit
  • qualify at Platinum 1 or higher and receive $200 in Live Clean Product Credit

Live Clean Product Credit can be put towards a Modere affiliate’s product orders. These orders can be manual or a monthly autoship.

Note that awarded Live Clean Product Credits must be used within 60 days.

Promoter Development Bonus

The Promoter Development Bonus is paid when downline affiliates qualify at Silver and higher retail commission ranks.

For retail commission rank details see “Retail Commissions” above.

Up to three Promoter Development Bonuses are paid out if the bonus is triggered.

Theses bonuses are tiered based on affiliate rank:

  • if a downline affiliate qualifies at Silver, the first Team Leader or higher ranked upline receive $10, the first Director or higher receives $10 and the first Elite or higher receive $10
  • if a downline affiliate qualifies at Gold, the first Team Leader or higher ranked upline receive $15, the first Director or higher receives $15 and the first Elite or higher receive $15
  • if a downline affiliate qualifies at Platinum, the first Team Leader or higher ranked upline receive $40, the first Director or higher receives $40 and the first Elite or higher receive $40
  • if a downline affiliate qualifies at Platinum 1, the first Team Leader or higher ranked upline receive $60, the first Director or higher receives $60 and the first Elite or higher receive $60
  • if a downline affiliate qualifies at Platinum 2, the first Team Leader or higher ranked upline receive $75, the first Director or higher receives $75 and the first Elite or higher receive $75
  • if a downline affiliate qualifies at Platinum 3, the first Team Leader or higher ranked upline receive $100, the first Director or higher receives $100 and the first Elite or higher receive $100

Note that these are coded bonuses, meaning higher ranked affiliates can collect lower rank tier bonuses if they haven’t been claimed yet.

E.g. a personally recruited affiliate qualifies at Platinum 2 one month. Their upline is an Elite 1, so they’d receive all three $75 bonuses.

If they were a Director 2, they’d only receive the first two $75 bonuses. The third $75 would be paid upline to the first Elite or higher ranked affiliate found.

Residual Commissions

Modere pays residual commissions via a unilevel compensation structure.

A unilevel compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a unilevel team, with every personally recruited affiliate placed directly under them (level 1):

If any level 1 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 2 of the original affiliate’s unilevel team.

If any level 2 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 3 and so on and so forth down a theoretical infinite number of levels.

Modere caps payable unilevel team levels at eight.

Residual commissions are paid as a percentage of non first order sales volume generated across these eight levels as follows:

  • Senior Consultants earn 4% on levels 1 (personally recruited affiliates) and 2
  • Team Leaders earn 7% on levels 1 to 3
  • Senior Team Leaders earn 7% on levels 1 to 3 and 4% on level 4
  • Director 1s earn 7% on levels 1 to 3 and 5% on level 4
  • Director 2s earn 7% on levels 1 to 3, 5% on level 4 and 4% on level 5
  • Director 3s earn 7% on levels 1 to 3, 5% on level 4 and 4% on levels 5 and 6
  • Elite 1s earn 7% on levels 1 to 3, 5% on level 4 and 4% on levels 5 to 7
  • Elite 2s earn 7% on levels 1 to 3, 5% on level 4 and 4% on levels 5 to 8
  • Elite 3s earn 7% on levels 1 to 3, 5% on levels 4 and 5 and 4% on levels 6 to 8

Four and More Bonus

The Four and More Bonus adds an additional 4% to residual commission rates.

To qualify for the Four and More Bonus, a Modere affiliate must be Elite 1 or higher and recruit at least three affiliates.

From their fourth recruited affiliate, they receive a bonus 4% in residual commissions across levels 1 to 8 of their unilevel team (note that Elite 1s are only paid up to level 7).

Matching Bonus

Modere’s Matching Bonus pays a match on retail commissions (reorder volume only) and residual commissions.

The Matching Bonus is paid to Elite 1 and higher ranked affiliates:

  • Elite 1s qualify for a 7% match on retail reorder commission volume earned by Gold or higher ranked downline affiliates, a 10% match on Team Leader and Senior Team Leader residual commissions, 12% on Director 1, 14% on Director 2, 16% on Director 3 and 18% on Elite 1 to 3
  • Elite 2s qualify for a 7% match on retail reorder commission volume earned by Gold or higher ranked downline affiliates, a 10% match on Team Leader and Senior Team Leader residual commissions, 12% on Director 1, 14% on Director 2, 16% on Director 3 18% on Elite 1 and 20% on Elite 2 and Elite 3
  • Elite 3s qualify for a 7% match on retail reorder commission volume earned by Gold or higher ranked downline affiliates, a 10% match on Team Leader and Senior Team Leader residual commissions, 12% on Director 1, 14% on Director 2, 16% on Director 3 18% on Elite 1, 20% on Elite 2 and 22% on Elite 3

First Order Bonus

The First Order Bonus is a recruitment bonus, paid on the first order placed by a personally recruited affiliate.

The First Order Bonus pays 30% on generated order sales volume.

Monthly Team Builder Bonus

The Monthly Team Builder Bonus is a rank-based bonus paid monthly.

  • qualify at Team Leader with 1800 GV and receive $100 a month
  • qualify at Senior Team Leader with 3600 GV and receive $200 a month
  • qualify at Director 1 with 7200 GV and receive $500 a month
  • qualify at Director 2 with 15,000 GV and receive $750 a month
  • qualify at Director 3 with 30,000 GV and receive $1500 a month
  • qualify at Elite 1 with 60,000 GV and receive $2000 a month
  • qualify at Elite 2 with 120,000 GV and receive $2500 a month
  • qualify at Elite 3 with 240,000 GV and receive $3000 a month

Note that the required GV is less than what is required to qualify for the applicable ranks, so I’m not sure why these amounts are specified.

E.g. it’s impossible to qualify at Director 3 with only 30,000 GV. Director 3 rank qualification requires 50,000 GV.

Also note that the Monthly Team Builder Bonus allows an affiliate to derank one rank below their highest achieved rank, and still receive the Monthly Team Builder Bonus.

E.g. if the highest rank you’ve qualified for is Elite 1, you can drop to Director 3 and still qualify for the Monthly Team Builder Bonus (paid at Director 3).

If you further dropped below Director 3 you’d no longer qualify for the Monthly Team Bonus at any rank (if you reached Director 3 or higher you’d qualify again).

Joining Modere

Modere affiliate membership is $39.99.

Optional product packs are available, ranging in price from $99 for an Essential Pack to $659 for an Ultimate Pro XM Enrollment Pack.

Other than generating PV on your order, there is no financial advantage to signing up with a Modere product pack.

Modere Conclusion

Modere’s “shifting retail” pitch is a commitment to retail customers.

It all starts with the customer. If we provide them with the best experience possible, it creates the greatest opportunity for each of us.

Our primary focus at Modere is about attracting, retaining and growing customers.

The problem is it’s undermined by autoship still being used to qualify for commissions.

There are many benefits for participating in the SmartShip program. One benefit is the ability to meet the monthly Activity Point requirement to be eligible for commissions at a reduced rate.

One could argue the above is just highlighting one benefit, but then there’s also this:

To qualify for commissions a Social Marketer must have 150 Activity Points (AP) or a 75 Marketer Point (MP) SmartShip.

Activity Points are the

combined point value of purchases by a Social Marketer and points from their new customers’ purchases in their first calendar month.

Marketer Points are

Points from products personally purchased by a Social Marketer for qualification purposes.

Both with respect to point value and only counting the first order a retail customer makes, Modere penalizes affiliates who focus on retail sales over jumping on autoship.

When you combine this penalization with autoship being marketed as a way to qualify for commissions, Modere’s commitment to retail sales rings hollow.

In essence, nothing has changed since I first looked at Modere in 2014:

So sign up by paying $399 and pay your $100 a month autoship order… just so you can recruit others and recommend they do the same when they ask you how you became an Modere affiliate.

And according to Modere, this is all “critically important”.

The figures are slightly different but eight years later, Modere still has an unhealthy focus on autoship recruitment.

One other thing I’ll note is back in 2014 Modere had retail customer requirements built into their compensation plan. Or at least had announced plans to include them.

I don’t know whether the criteria was ever implemented, but as of 2022 they’re nowhere to be seen.

This is a shame, because if you took out “sign up for autoship to qualify for commissions”, Modere’s compensation plan is a pretty balanced mix of retail and team building.

And there’s certainly plenty of products to market.

The quick fix here would be to scrap autoship qualification and require affiliates to qualify (either at 75 or 150 PV) through retail customer volume only.

This volume should be either first order volume or repeat order volume. There’s no need to exclude either.

That I have to point this out nine years after Modere launched suggests “shifting retail” is just lip-service.

In case you’re wondering why I’m making such a big deal about this, it’s because an MLM company in which the majority of affiliates are qualifying for commissions on autoship, and thus are earning commissions on said autoship orders, is functioning as a pyramid scheme.

The good news is you can very easily verify whether your potential Modere upline is running a pyramid scheme or not.

First ask them whether they’re on autoship or not. If they’re not and have qualified for commissions, that means they’ve done so on retail sales (great!).

I suspect the overwhelming majority of Modere affiliates will be on autoship though, so we need to dig a bit deeper.

What you next want to know is their retail commission rank over the past three months (Promoter to Platinum 3).

The second retail commission rank, Bronze, requires 500 PV – that alone is a great indication that the affiliate is focused on retail sales. Anything higher is an even bigger commitment to retail – the more the better.

If you find your potential upline is autoship qualifying for commissions and hasn’t ever qualified beyond Promoter for retail commissions, be wary. There’s a good chance that affiliate is running their Modere as a pyramid scheme.

The onus is on Modere to fix up their compensation plan. In the meantime though, why bother getting involved in something your statistically all but guaranteed to lose money in? At least if you try to operate an honest retail focused business.

From 2014:

Personally all I’m seeing is Neways with a definite attempt at retail improvement, gutted by customer requirement waivers and a compensation plan that still rewards affiliates too heavily for autoship recruitment and nothing else.

That still unfortunately holds true for Modere in 2022. Approach with caution.