Avon turns to stores and social as boss admits direct selling ‘isn’t for everybody’

Avon’s European boss has confessed that its door-to-door selling is “not for everybody” as the group shakes up its shopping channels.

The beauty retailer revealed last week that over 150 of its products would be stocked in 100 Superdrug stores nationwide and online.

Its partnership with the drugstore chain joins its tie-ups with Amazon and Tiktok as the group looks to appeal to younger shoppers.

Avon managing director for Western Europe Kristof Neirynck told the Mail: “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 but that shifted once lockdown was over. It is the same with direct selling, but it is not for everybody.”


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Neirynck said boosting the brand’s presence on the high street was the “final piece of the puzzle”.

Commenting on the tie-up with Tiktok, he 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.”

Avon, which was bought by The Body Shop owner Natura back in 2019, originally started selling its products via representatives who would go door-to-door with a paper catalogue or host their own ‘Avon parties’.

Neirynck said the Avon parties were not over yet and that there would “always be a place” for face-to-face marketing.

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