The Avon lady is calling again. So is the Mary Kay girl and the Pampered Chef.
Laid off from traditional jobs, workers across America are turning to direct sales of cosmetics and cookware to earn new income. Workers like Brandi Bright of Northridge, Calif.
“I signed up with Avon … to have my own money,†says the now former receptionist at a printing company. “I wanted to meet more people and get out.â€
So she’s loading up her 30-foot trailer with lip gloss samples and eye shadow palettes to criss-cross the country in search of customers.
The surge in interest is a boon to Avon. March saw a surge in people signing up as representatives, meaning that by the end of the month the company had nearly 680,000 – the largest number ever recorded – says Linsday Blaker, public relations manager for Avon Products.
The lipstick factor – the typical rise in lipstick sales in tough economic times – may also be spurring sales for Mary Kay Inc. The Addison, Texas, cosmetics company, saw a 22 percent rise in the ranks of its independent consultants in the first quarter of 2009 compared with a year ago, according to company spokeswoman Kathrina McAfee. In March, the company launched a TV ad to lure new consultants and saw a 58 percent rise in its Web traffic, she adds.
This isn’t the first time that Mary Kay (whose representatives began selling in the 1960s and Avon (1886) have seen their ranks swell during a recession. According to the latest figures available, direct sales employed an estimated 15 million Americans in 2007. Of those, 58 percent took on sales as a second job, according to Amy Robinson, spokesperson for the Direct Selling Association, a trade group which represents 200 US companies.