The Great-Grandmother of Direct Sales—Avon

It was like having your living room turned into an Avon store every month.

I’m betting that, if your mom wasn’t into Avon, you had friends whose moms were routinely turning their homes into makeup warehouses.

Several generations of kids, in fact, have faced the Avon gauntlet. Avon’s been around since before women could vote.

In fact, Avon itself is like the great-grandmother of direct sales, with more than 120 years in business.

The Avon website says that the company started as a perfume outlet whose founder realized that the best way to get women to buy his products was to have other women sell them.

Instead of having to beg hubby for some time away from scrubbing floors and cooking chicken dinners to visit their friends, women could say that they were bringing in their own “pin money” by selling makeup through Avon.

For a very old company, Avon today looks as if it were founded in the computer age. They’ve got a decently designed website complete with videos and easy access for shoppers, sales associates, and potential associates alike.

Of course, you’d better like pink before you visit! Pink, and lots of pastels.

But Avon knows its business, and it seems to be doing very well for itself. Avon isn’t just about makeup anymore. I took a look at the site and found clothing, workout shoes, and bathroom scales.

They even had a page for “gifts” which featured gardeners’ tools when I visited.

And I’d better not forget the kitchen appliances, jewelry, Bibles…did you ever hear about the Sears catalog? It’s kind of like that, but almost everything looks pink.

If you’re interested in going into sales with Avon, they seem to have a very reasonable support program with meetings and online support tools. They claim that you can make up to 50% in commissions, and they also have an MLM program.

While Avon’s website makes them look like a new, pink thing, the fact is that the company is still what it has always been—a way to start your own business without having to reinvent any wheels.

After surfing the Avon site, I got to wondering how their sales reps’ living rooms look every month. It was one thing to try to tiptoe around small- and medium-sized bags with makeup and perfume bottles.

Can you imagine today’s kids making their way through gauntlets of “Angel Fountains,” coffeemakers, and mascara? You could make a real obstacle course out of those deliveries.

But, wait! Avon has thought of that! At least a little.

According to their site, Avon reps can either have their customers shop online—and have purchases delivered directly to them— or do the old-time monthly warehouse-and-delivery thing.

That’s kind of a damn shame. My generation had to deal with the monthly Avon gauntlet— why shouldn’t today’s kids do the same?