No ding-dong: Avon admits parties 'not for everybody'

Avon, the global direct-sell beauty company that can trace its roots back to the 1880s, is shaking up its shopping channels following the success of its social commerce strategy and a decline in reps holding “Avon parties”.

In what it descried as the “final piece of the puzzle”, the beauty retailer has revealed that over 150 of its products will now be stocked in Superdrug stores nationwide and online.

The move follows the implementation of its digital transformation strategy, which has seen the firm forge partnerships with Amazon and TikTok, expanding from its traditional face-to-face reps and into social commerce.

The Covid-19 pandemic also accelerated its omnichannel experience, enabling customers to have greater flexibility in the way they shop.

And, it seems the TikTok presence has also helped Avon reach a new audience with content that showcases the brand’s beauty innovation as well as ease of access to buy.

Avon managing director for Western Europe Kristof Neirynck called social media “an opportunity we hadn’t necessarily leveraged until now. We have all these reps who are really passionate about the brand. We were running the micro-influencer model way back when in an analogue way”.

But these gains appear to have hastened the decline of face-to-face, with Neirynck admitting: “Not everybody wants to shop with representatives, and we need to recognise that.

“Everyone thought off the back of the pandemic that nobody would ever go into stores again but that shifted once lockdown was over. It is the same with direct selling, but it is not for everybody.”

Neirynck said boosting the brand’s presence on the high street was the “final piece of the puzzle” but that Avon parties were not over yet. There will “always be a place” for face-to-face marketing, he insisted.

Founded in September 1886 in New York by door-to-door salesman David H McConnell, who decided to sell perfumes rather than books, the brand’s owner Natura & Co appointed VaynerMedia London to overhaul its marketing strategy in August 2020.