Mary Kay, Pampered Chef and other direct sellers aren’t just pushing people to buy these days. They’re trying to get them to sell.
Even as the industry made famous by the Avon lady and Tupperware parties struggles with falling consumer demand, its best-known companies are actively recruiting sales representatives by offering the prospect of extra income during uncertain times.
The companies’ efforts have had noticeable effect. Pampered Chef reported a 10 percent year-over-year increase in new sales consultants in the second quarter, while Mary Kay and Avon saw 22 and 20 percent increases, respectively, during the first quarter compared with a year earlier.
Concerns about job security led Carolyn Holcomb, a teacher at the private Visitation Academy in Frederick, to start selling Pampered Chef kitchen products in April. Holcomb said she was worried about looming college tuition for her three teenagers.
“If suddenly all the parents decide, ‘We just lost our job and we can’t afford to pay tuition,’ there goes my job,” she said.
Direct sellers’ business models depend largely on sales representatives who host parties at friends’ or clients’ homes, demonstrating and selling products such as cosmetics and kitchenware. The companies have taken advantage of previous recessions to build their sales corps.
“One comment I continue to hear from our new beauty consultants is ‘I can’t get laid off,’ ” said Rhonda Shasteen, chief marketing officer at cosmetics maker Mary Kay. “I think that’s something a lot of women are not feeling right now, they’re not feeling in control of a lot of things.”
Logo from Pampered Chef