One of Britain's oldest home shopping companies has gone into administration, after nearly 100 years in business.

Kleeneze, which sold household products through its network of door-to-door sellers, ceased trading earlier this week, putting 140 jobs at risk, as reported by the BBC.

But the bigger question mark is over the future of 5,000 independent distributors who sell the products. Many low income families rely on this sort of work to earn a bit of much-needed cash.

Kleeneze's self-employed distributors deliver catalogues throughout the UK and Ireland, earning cash or rewards for every sale they make on the doorstep or through their own online shop. Many of them work for Kleeneze alongside other jobs to boost their income.

The company said tough trading conditions and problems with logistics and IT following a move to a new distribution site resulted in lost sales, leading to its collapse.

But the union Usdaw is pushing for administrators to find a buyer for the company to protect jobs and keep the business running.

Punchline says: "Another long established company has died off, partly due to the unfair playing field of the internet. Sadly, the surprise isn't that Kleeneze has gone into administration, but that it lasted for this long."