This paper provides an assessment of the recent alliance formed between Avon and Mattel. The alliance represents, among other things, a blending of Avon’s sales expertise with Mattel’s high quality products, including the Barbie® product line.
This paper provides an assessment of the recent alliance formed between Avon and Mattel. The alliance represents, among other things, a blending of Avon’s sales expertise with Mattel’s high quality products, including the Barbie® product line.
The Avon Company can make strong claims to being unique—in several respects—among American companies: (1) the establishment of the selling method preceded the development of the product; (2) Avon has always stressed the quality of the cosmetics, toiletries, and fragrances it sells at moderate prices, though traditionally “quality” in such items means high prices; (3) the company has built its reputation upon close and continuing salesperson-customer relationships (lack of such continuing contact is a frequent complaint in door-to-door selling situations); (4) though no technical or scientific expertise is required to sell the company’s products, Avon makes a substantial and ongoing effort to assist its salespersons merchandising abilities; and (5) the Avon return-and-refund guarantee is absolutely un conditional.
Keywords: Case Study, Consumers, Cosmetics, Suppliers
“When the history of this organization is written,” noted James E. Preston, chairman and chief executive officer of Avon Products, Inc., in February, 1993, “a meeting last June in Florida of 60 managers from around the world may turn out to have been a watershed event. Our four days of brainstorming, debate and discussion brought to an end two years of research and examination of our basic businesses, and launched us on a new way of thinking about and managing those businesses.”
Keywords: Cosmetics, Entrepreneur, Global, Marketing, Planning