Avon calls out TikTok after purchasing shakeup as boss admits door-to-door selling ‘not for everyone’
- Avon UK says it is moving more towards selling its products in stores
- The manufacturer announced it will sell products in 100 Superdrug stores last week.
- The company’s ‘Avon Ladies’ have traditionally sold products door to door.
Avon’s UK boss has admitted door-to-door selling is “not for everyone” as the group moves to selling its cosmetics in stores and through TikTok.
For almost a century, the London-based company’s ‘Avon Ladies’ have sold their beauty products through what Western Europe CEO Kristof Neirynck calls “pure ding-dong sales.”
Their representatives often go door-to-door with a paper catalog or host their own “Avon parties” to showcase their products.
For almost a century, the ‘Avon Ladies’ have sold Avon beauty products by going door to door.
But in the wake of the Covid pandemic and the rise of social media, the company had to rethink.
Last week it announced it will sell products in 100 Superdrug stores. The partnership with the retailer is its first physical partnership, through which it hopes to reach younger shoppers.
“Not everyone wants to buy from representatives and we have to recognize that,” Neirynck told the Mail. ‘It has definitely changed.
‘Everyone thought that after the pandemic, no one would ever go to the shops, but that changed once the lockdown ended. The same goes for direct selling, but it’s not for everyone.”
He said the presence on High Street was “the last piece of the jigsaw”. Avon, founded in 1886, began selling a limited range of products on Amazon earlier this year. Its younger representatives also use TikTok to attract customers.
Before the pandemic, only 10 percent of sales contacts were made online. Now it is more than 30%.
Neirynck called social media “an opportunity that we haven’t necessarily taken advantage of until now,” adding, “We have all these reps who are really passionate about the brand.”
Last week Avon announced it will sell products in 100 Superdrug stores. Union is your first physical association
“A long time ago we were running the micro-influencer model in an analog way.”
But Neirynck said the Avon party was not over and that “there will always be a place” for face-to-face marketing.
“In beauty, it’s about being able to play with the product and talk about how to get the right look,” she said.
Avon is owned by Brazil’s Natura & Co, which also operates The Body Shop.
“In developing countries, for many people, Avon is their main source of income,” Neirynck said. ‘In the UK it’s more of a sideline – extra income as part of the gig economy.
