"Day, who projects that his company will hit $3 million in sales this year, expects the Internet component of the business to overtake
face-to-face sales soon.
'We anticipate in the next couple years that those numbers will reverse — 70 percent online and 30 percent traditional retail,' he said."
—Chuck Melvin, "More Retailers Embracing the Net,"
The Plain Dealer, October 17, 1999
Corporate sales types have used the phrase "face-to-face sales" since at least the early 80s to refer to a sales pitch made in person, as opposed to a telephone pitch or a "drive-by" (a pitch that consists of nothing more than dropping off product literature):
"Amekor Industries beats the increasing cost of face-to-face sales calls by relying on the telephone approach."
—Carol Rose Carey, "Technoqies for Ringing Up Orders," Inc., November, 1982
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Using the phrase to refer to retail sales in a physical store became popular in the late 80s and early 90s when mail-order shopping was in vogue:
"For much of the 1980's, mail-order sales grew by about 15 percent a year. That was triple the growth rate of most department stores and other retailers that depend on face-to-face sales."
—Eben Shapiro, "The War of the Christmas Catalogues," The New York Times, November 15, 1991
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But the phrase has really picked up steam over the past couple of years as online retail has become a popular alternative to fighting the hordes down at the mall.
