Reese Witherspoon is the brand ambassador of Avon, which has a turnover of 8 billion dollars. Avon products are available in more than 135 countries across the planet. This multinational conglomerate had humble beginnings and went through many ups and down before it became a household name worldwide.
David H. McConnell, the founder of Avon, was a door-to-door salesman who sold books to housewives in America in the late 1800s. In order to entice women to buy from him, McConnell started giving out perfumes along with the books. Gradually, his perfumes became a huge hit and women began demanding only the perfumes. This led McConnell to set up the California Perfume Company in 1897 in a 500 square foot office in New York. The venture was successful, but there was a minor setback when the Great Earthquake destroyed the West Coast office, which was headquartered in San Francisco. Just before the start of World War I, the first non-US Avon office was started in Canada. By the end of the 1920s, sales had reached an impressive two million dollars. The name of the company was changed to Avon Products in 1939.
Known as AVP, today the company manufactures cosmetics, perfumes and toys. The company achieves its impressive sales figures primarily through direct marketing. Door-to-door sales are conducted mostly by women who are known as the “Avon Ladies”. These Avon Ladies have become so accepted in popular culture that the film Edward Scissorhands, which was released in 1990, included a character who was an Avon Llady. In some countries, door-to-door selling is not allowed. There, Avon has established several retail outlets and has several other retail outlets all over the world as well.
AVP is considered to be largely focused on women’s products such as perfumes, lipsticks, bath salts, foundations and skin creams. The company also has a line of jewellery products and couture clothing for women. Recently, it has introduced a range of products for younger, college students called “Mark”, another line for men called “M”, and a range of toys and shampoos for children. This has allowed the company to diversify into niche markets, which it had not tapped previously. The Mark range of products has become particularly popular with women between the ages of 18 and 25. A very successful business, the company has never shirked its corporate responsibilities and is actively involved with causes like women’s empowerment, domestic violence and breast cancer.
Buy on Dealtime:
