The purpose of this study was to investigate factors influencing sales of health functional foods by door-to-door saleswomen. A total of 450 women who worked as door-to-door salespersons in Seoul were enrolled. The survey questionnaire was composed of five parts as follows: general characteristics, factors related with door-to-door sales process, task education, competency required for door-to-door salespersons, and customer relationship beliefs. The survey was conducted in October 2011. Finally, data on 302 subjects were statistically analyzed using the SPSS 17.0 package program. Reason for sales of health functional foods (p<0.01), time required for sales promotion (p<0.001), difficulties during sales of health functional foods (p<0.05), satisfaction of task education (p<0.01), and failure of salesperson's memory as problems of task education (p<0.01) were significantly associated with sales of health functional foods. However, means of sales promotion, frequency and time of task education, and competency required for door-to-door salespersons were not significantly related with sales of health functional foods. Customer relationship beliefs did not show significant association with sales of health functional foods either. In conclusion, certain factors were associated with sales of health functional foods by door-to-door saleswomen. These results provide an understanding for sales of door-to-door health functional foods and provide basic information for preparation of task education for health functional food saleswomen and marketing.

최근 세계금융위기의 한파에도 불구하고 방문판매는 그 성장규모에서 꾸준한 상승세를 이어가고 있다. 이는 방문판매가 중간상을 통하지 않고서도 제품의 우수성과 독특함을 바탕으로 무한연쇄 장구조로 발전할 수 있는 매력적인 이론적 근거를 바탕으로 하고 있기 때문이다. 이에 따라 세계방문판매업계는중국의 구매력에 높은 관심을 가지고 있다. 그러나 국가마다 갖고 있는 경제상황, 역사문화, 사회적 풍토 등 다양한 환경적 요인에 의해 방문판매는 거래관행(관습)에 있어서 상당한 차이를 가지고 있다. 특히 중국은 시장경제과도단계에 시장원리보다는 인위적으로 만든 정책적 성향이 강하다는 측면에서 독특한 규제 체계를 구성하고 있다.본문은 중국 방문판매의 발전상황에 착안하여 방문판매업자에 대한 일반규제와 소비자보호에 관한 규제를 살펴보고, 이를 기초로 현행 법규제의 문제점을 검토하고 개선방향을 제시하였다.