1. Worldwide Opportunity
74 SUCCESS FROM HOME Volume 2 Issue 3
When Tahitian Noni International (TNI) introduced its
flagship juice product back in 1996, it was the first company
to commercialize the wondrous noni plant. Today, as the
company continues its global expansion with new product
lines and an innovative marketing strategy, it remains loyal to
the principles that have enabled it to dominate the industry it
pioneered a decade ago.
by Jack Walker
fruits of a
worldwide
opportunity

2. Worldwide Opportunity
Volume 2 Issue 3 SUCCESS FROM HOME 75

3. Worldwide Opportunity
76 SUCCESS FROM HOME Volume 2 Issue 3
The dramatic increase in online information
about the noni fruit and its products reflects
the explosive growth of the noni industry over
the same time period: from non-existent just
over 10 years ago to a global, multibillion-dollar
powerhouse today.
F
ew companies actually create new
markets. (TNI) is one of those few.
To demonstrate the magnitude of
what this company has accom-
plished in one decade, consider
the following. If you had typed “noni” into
an Internet search engine back in 1996,
you would have found two entries, both of
which were scientific in nature. Try the same
search today and literally millions of entries
will be generated. That dramatic increase in
online information about the noni fruit and
its products reflects the explosive growth of
the noni industry over the same time period:
from non-existent just over 10 years ago to a
global, multibillion-dollar powerhouse today.
Harvested from its tropical paradise and
aided by modern science, the noni fruit burst
onto the marketing scene in 1996. It took off
like wildfire, producing $33 million in revenue
in TNI’s first year. TNI was the first to market
noni products and is still the undisputed mar-
ket leader today. One reason noni products
sold so quickly in the beginning was due to
its uniqueness in the marketplace. Even as
the initial novelty wore off, TNI never slowed
down. International demand for noni products
drove expansion. Although TAHITIAN NONI®
Juice is clearly the star of the show, there are
popular trends, competitive advantages, savvy
product positioning and a fantastic compensa-
tion plan that together fuel TNI’s spectacular
growth, while providing a fruitful, worldwide
opportunity that continually grows more
lucrative and easier for TNI’s legion of Prod-
uct Consultants.
Rapid International Expansion
The TNI revolution started in the United
States and quickly began its remarkable
expansion around the world. Within a few
years, TNI expanded into Canada, Europe,
Japan, Mexico, Australia and China. For a
company that has proven itself remarkably
sound in strategy and infrastructure, the
rapid international expansion caught it
rather by surprise.
“We didn’t exactly plan it to go so fast,”
laughs Shon Whitney, TNI’s Vice President
of Marketing Communications. In fact, the
real driver behind the international growth
was the remarkable demand for the product
itself. Product Consultants and customers
would send bottles to friends in other coun-
tries, who would then in turn want to order
more. “That led to the crazy 1000 percent
growth rates we experienced,” Shon says.
Product Consultant Melanie Alfred from
Australia says, “We helped push the envelope
here in Australia to help fuel international
growth. We got a sample of the juice from
the States and then started importing it. I
worked in nutritional consulting and my
patients really benefited from it. Soon, TNI
took notice and followed our lead.”
While many companies take decades to
open markets around the world, TNI’s stint
of 10 years is remarkable by any measure,
and there are definitely major trends that
TNI has exploited to fuel its marketing fire.
Converging Trends at Work
So what exactly makes TAHITIAN NONI
Juice such a hot product? “Health drinks are
extremely popular today,” Shon explains. “In
fact, they are the fastest-growing segment of

4. Worldwide Opportunity
the entire food industry. These drinks enjoy
an annual growth rate of 10 percent or more
while soft drink sales remain flat.”
IPC Robert Dean from Georgia says, “I
did some research on the beverage industry
when I started as a TNI Product Consultant.
I believe we’re very well-positioned in this
game. Eventually, the typical person will
have a noni bottle in his or her refrigerator
right next to the milk and orange juice. So
right now, it’s just beginning. Today we find
ourselves sitting where the soft drink industry
was 100 years ago.”
There are two other trends that are driv-
ing TAHITIAN NONI Juice sales as well.
One of them is the growing popularity
of the entire health and wellness move-
ment. “It’s projected to be a trillion-dollar
industry by 2010. Everyone is looking for
healthy alternatives,” Shon says. And then
there is the unique selling power of network
marketing itself, an industry that attracts
about 175,000 people a week worldwide. A
health-driven product like TAHITIAN NONI
Juice particularly benefits from the word-of-
mouth advertising this powerful marketing
platform provides. So given the strength of
this segment of the beverage market, the
popularity of the health and wellness indus-
try and the muscle of network marketing,
TNI finds itself uniquely positioned at the
crossroads of hot trends.
TNI’s Competitive Edge
When the benefits of noni first came to
light, TNI was the only company positioned
to take advantage of the wellness properties
of this almost-unknown tropical plant. Other
companies have since entered the market, but
have been unable to match TNI’s explosive
growth. TNI is not only the market leader
because it was first to market; it has a unique
product formula, the strength of volume, the
power of research and a host of new products
to distinguish itself in the marketplace.
First, there is the patented formula of
the main product. “We have about a 90 per-
cent re-order rate,” Shon says. “The product
obviously works well, or people wouldn’t
In 2003, TNI opened their first café right in the middle of the Shin juku financial district in Tokyo, Japan.

5. Worldwide Opportunity
78 SUCCESS FROM HOME Volume 2 Issue 3
continue to spend money on it.” The exact
formula of TAHITIAN NONI Juice is proprie-
tary, so it cannot be duplicated. And although
TAHITIAN NONI Juice is the flagship TNI
product, it is not the only one; many more
products are now being introduced.
In fact, TNI is now launching 16 new
products and expanding from seven to nine
product lines. So, in addition to strengthen-
ing existing lines, a new hair care line and a
skin supplement line are coming onboard,
too. There are also more consumable prod-
ucts that customers will enjoy, like Tahitea,
and even new pet products. “In less than two
years, we should grow to 17 separate product
lines,” Shon says.
All TNI products come from three core
elements: the noni fruit, seed or leaf. And
TNI’s 150,000-square-foot home office in
Provo, Utah, houses the largest noni research
and development facility in the world. Thus,
it is clearly at the forefront of new product
research. In fact, by sheer volume alone, TNI
has uniquely positioned itself to conduct
product development that other companies
have not yet been able to match. “We har-
vest the noni seeds and produce the oil that
comes from them,” Shon explains. “But it
takes 50,000 seeds to make just one ounce
of oil. No one else harvests enough to get
the volume of seeds needed to make this
commercially viable. But since we process
500 tons of fruit per month, we can generate
enough oil to manufacture our skin care and
spa products.”
TNI has also developed a way to extract sap
that comes from noni leaves. The serum that
results has amazing healing properties from
which the Tahitians have long benefited. The
method for that process has been patented,
as have 10 more processes that extract other
noni compounds. Each of these compounds
can then be used to develop exclusive prod-
ucts. Also, there are 19 other compounds
that TNI has identified for future harvesting.
Thus, TNI is so far ahead, no company can
compete with the development funded by this
market leader.
Marketing Shift
TNI is not only research and development
driven, but has become brand driven as well.
Recently, TNI shifted strategically from a
one-product network marketing company to
a brand-driven consumer products company.
Yet, it still stays true to the roots of its direct
selling channel and of the noni plant. We’ve
seen that TNI is a pioneer of product develop-
ment, but it is also an innovator in marketing
strategy. “Since most people hate to sell and
love to shop, we’ve created shopping experi-
ences with a wide range of good and unique
products,” says Shon. “It’s basically a shop-
ping program with profit-sharing attached.”
Part of this strategy involves transforming
TNI sales offices across the globe into Life-
style Centers. “We don’t want our offices to
have the ambience of an insurance agency,”
says Shon. “With the new lifestyle centers,
“We helped push the envelope here
in Australia to help fuel international
growth. We got a sample of the juice from
the States and then started importing it.”
—IPC Melanie Alfred
“I believe we’re very well-positioned in
this game. Eventually, the typical person will
have a noni bottle in his or her refrigerator right
next to the milk and orange juice.”
—IPC Robert Dean
TNI Consultants at a recent event.

6. Volume 2 Issue 3 SUCCESS FROM HOME 79
you can bring a friend down to eat in our
Noni Café™
and taste great food along with
several noni-based products. Each café has
an exotic Tahitian atmosphere. This environ-
ment isn’t intimidating for prospects. After
a meal, they can shop in our store and even
check out our learning center where we
have training and demonstrations. How’s
that for a product introduction!” This com-
munity hub concept is a touchstone for the
TAHITIAN NONI brand. It has the brick-and-
mortar component many people need to see
and anyone can profit from. “Our leaders
are already having great success with this,”
says Shon. One of those leaders is Product
Consultant Robert Dean, who says, “People
who were never open to the TNI opportunity
before now experience the café and ask, ‘How
do I sign up?’ ”
TNI has opened seven of these Lifestyle
Centers and will have nine more by the end of
2006. Other ways to deliver the TNI shopping
experience are with the product-focused Web
site and also catalogs. Shopping pleasure,
combined with a lucrative compensation
plan, makes a powerful combination for Prod-
uct Consultants. “Everyone should know,”
Shon says, “that whenever someone buys
something in our lifestyle center stores, we
put the profit in a pool for our leading Product
Consultants. We don’t cut them out.”
Compensation Galore
Considering the compensation plan, TNI
pays out 53 percent of every commissionable
dollar to Product Consultants. There are five
components to the plan: 1) Retail profits;
2) Fast Start from recruiting; 3) Product
rebates; 4) Unilevel, or residuals from down-
line sales; and 5) Global bonus pools (Top
Performer, Infinity Bonus, Black Pearl), the
jewels of the plan.
“We have a seamless system worldwide
for these pools,” says Shon. “If someone
is selling in Germany and you don’t even
know them, you can still get a slice of the
pie through a bonus pool. So, we like to say
that, in TNI, everyone is in your downline.”
There are three main pools and about 8
percent of every commissionable dollar is
dedicated to them. “These pools are where
the big money, or what we call the wealth
component, of our commission structure
lies. We’re also adding a fourth pool that
will draw from revenues at our lifestyle cen-
ters. The idea behind this last pool is that
as we build our brand around the world,
the Product Consultants may profit directly
from it. We cut them into everything.”
In light of all this, one can easily see how
TNI offers a truly global opportunity. Even if
one does not recruit new business partners
in other countries, one may, through the
pools, profit from Product Consultant efforts
and branding initiatives throughout the
world. TNI has paid out more than $1.5 bil-
lion to Product Consultants worldwide “We
believe that this industry can yield a return
on someone’s investment of time and money
like no other,” Shon says. “And we are doing
everything possible to make our compensa-
tion plan more lucrative than ever.”
Moving Forward
Although TNI doesn’t exactly identify
itself as a network marketing company, it’s
adding sales channels in non-traditional
ways. “The noni fruit is at the center of all we
do—we are a Tahitian noni company,” Shon
says. “We’re adding brick and mortar with
our lifestyle centers. We’re greatly expand-
ing our Web marketing channel. We’re also
pursuing advertising campaigns and spon-
sorships. Building our brand clearly makes
us stand out to consumers and helps our
Product Consultants in the process. As the
pie gets bigger, so do the slices. Being a Prod-
uct Consultant is like owning a piece of a
global conglomerate.”
As one can see, the company that pioneered
the noni industry definitely has plans to stay
atop the huge market it created more than a
decade ago. As it looks toward a bright future,
TNI seeks to penetrate further into global
markets, introduce scores of new products,
increase brand awareness and take further
advantage of the trends that have enabled it
to grow so dramatically. And for their part,
Product Consultants may in turn enjoy the
luscious fruits of the TNI compensation plan
every bit as much as they do a chilled glass of
TAHITIAN NONI Juice. Cheers!
“People who were never open to the TNI
opportunity before now experience the café
and ask, ‘How do I sign up?’ ”
—Shon Whitney,
Vice President of Marketing Communications
Dallas, Texas Grand Opening (November 2005)