Avon Products

History

Avon's founder, David H. McConnell, initially sold books as a door-to-door salesman to New York homes. In September 1886, he decided to sell perfumes rather than books. He started the new business in a small office at 126 Chambers Street, Manhattan, New York. McConnell changed the company name in 1892. His business partner suggested calling it the "California Perfume Company." His business partner was living in California at the time and suggested the name because of the abundance of flowers in California.{{cite web |access-date=June 28, 2020}}

In May 1894, Alexander D. Henderson joined the company, became vice-president and treasurer, and helped shape its policies and assist in its growth. |access-date=June 28, 2020}} In 1897 they built a laboratory in Suffern, New York. On May 3, 1909, the California Perfume Company corporate office moved to 31 Park Place, New York.{{cite web |access-date=June 28, 2020}} On June 16, 1909, McConnell and Henderson signed an agreement of Incorporation for the California Perfume Company in the state of New Jersey. |access-date=December 17, 2012}} On January 28, 1916, the California Perfume Company was incorporated in the state of New York. McConnell, Henderson, and William Scheele were listed as company officials. |access-date=February 3, 2020}} In 1939, the California Perfume Company changed its name to Avon.

International expansion

Avon sells products in over 100 countries. Brazil is the company's largest market, passing the United States in 2010. Avon entered the Chinese market in 1990. Direct selling was outlawed in China in 1998, which forced Avon to sell only through physical stores called Beauty Boutiques. The ban was lifted in 2001, and the company received a license for direct selling in 2006.

88% of Avon's 2013 revenue (around $10 billion) came from overseas markets.

Mergers and acquisitions

Avon purchased Silpada, a direct seller of silver jewelry, in 2010 for $650 million. earlier reports said that Avon rejected the bid, stating "At the time, the board concluded, and it still believes, that Coty's indication of interest is opportunistic and not in the best interest of Avon's shareholders."

In March 2016, Cerberus Capital Management paid $435 million in cash for preferred stock in Avon Products. This move was the conclusion of a deal initiated in December 2015, when Avon sold 80.1 percent of its North American Business to Cerberus for $170 million. The total value of the deal was $605 million. The investment resulted in Cerberus having an almost 17 percent stake in Avon Products.

In January 2020, Natura & Co closed the acquisition of Avon Products, Inc. At the time, The Natura & Co group also included Natura, Aesop, and The Body Shop, and with the acquisition of Avon had created the world's fourth-largest pure-play beauty company.

Recent history

In 2014, Avon's global sales had fallen for five straight years, and its North American revenues fell 18% that year.

In 2016, Avon completed the separation of its United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico business as New Avon LLC, which also trades with the "Avon" name. As part of a three-year plan, the global Avon Products relocated its headquarters to London in the United Kingdom. In August 2019, New Avon LLC, the privately held North American company that split from Avon Products, Inc. (Avon Worldwide) in 2016 entered into a definitive agreement with South Korean consumer goods giant LG Household & Health Care, Ltd., which purchased the direct-selling cosmetics business for $125 million in cash.

Jan Zijderveld was appointed the company's CEO in February 2018. The former CEO, Sherilyn S. McCoy, stayed on as an adviser to the Board and to Zijderveld through March 31, 2018.

In January 2021, New Avon Company announced its corporate name change to The Avon Company.

In 2019, the Brazilian beauty company Natura agreed to buy Avon Products for more than $2bn via a share swap, creating the world's fourth-largest beauty company. Under the deal's terms, Natura will hold 76% of the combined business with over $10 billion in annual revenue.

In November 2023, Avon announced it would open stores in the United Kingdom for the first time in the company's history, augmenting its already existing network of 63 stores in Turkey. However, in August 2024, Avon Products filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in an effort to settle its talc-based lawsuits. In September 2025, it was announced that Natura will sell Avon to Regent LP for £1. The sale does not include Avon's Latin American and Russian operations, which will continue to be owned by Natura. The sale was completed on December 29, 2025.

Business model and marketing

Avon uses both door-to-door salespeople ("Avon ladies", as well as "Avon men") and brochures to advertise its products. Some Avon training centers have a small retail section with skin care products, such as creams, serums, makeup, and washes. Avon recruits sales representatives who sell beauty products, jewelry, accessories, and clothing. The salespeople are not employees, their income is solely based on the sales revenue or recruiting of further salespeople.

Some of the brand-names used by the company include Avon Color (including Power Stay, Color Trend Make Up + Care, and Ultra Colour range), Imari, Far Away, Avon Eve, Sk!n, Today Tomorrow Always, Black Suede, Avon Fashions, Anew, Clearskin, Avon Care, Avon Senses, Skin So Soft among others. According to the U.S. government, Avon has 5 million to 6 million sales representatives operating in over 100 countries as of 2014. Avon and its subsidiaries have 40,000 to 50,000 employees, 6,000 of which are in the United States.

Avon was an early member of the U.S. Direct Selling Association, which was founded in 1910. The company left the association in 2014, saying that the trade group was not paying enough attention to the industry as a whole.

Controversies

American corruption charges

Beginning in 2008, the conduct of various employees and executives of Avon were investigated for possible violations of the law, including bribery and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. |access-date=June 29, 2020 }}

Avon began a probe of its China division after an internal whistleblower alleged bribery in June 2008. At least four executives, both in Asia and in the United States, were suspended in 2010, and later fired for their roles in the activities being investigated. |access-date=June 29, 2020 }} According to The New York Times, Avon spent over $170 million on legal fees and costs related to the investigation: $59 million in 2009 and $95 million in 2010, and $22.5 million for the first quarter of 2011. |access-date=June 29, 2020 }} The final tally was about $500 million.

The Times reported that Avon would report the findings to the United States Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and try to negotiate the penalties that those entities may impose.

In 2014, Avon settled the bribery charges for a total of $135 million; $68 million in criminal penalties, with the remainder in interest, disgorgement, and fines from a civil case brought by the SEC.

Animal testing

Avon vowed in 1989 that as a company located in the United States, it would no longer participate in animal testing. Avon has since claimed to be working globally to introduce safer methods of testing cosmetics that do not require animals. These methods include in vitro testing, computer simulations, and testing cosmetics on human volunteers.

Although Avon does not practice animal testing of its cosmetics that are sold in the United States, certain specialty products do require extensive testing in other countries. In China, specialty products that require degrees of animal testing include but are not limited to: sunscreen products, whitening/pigmentation products, and hair dye/perm or growth products. Despite laws that require animal testing in some countries, Avon chooses to distribute its products in those jurisdictions. Laws in various countries require companies to pay for animal testing through a commercial business in order to sell certain products in that country. Because Avon is not globally animal-testing free, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has not included Avon on their cruelty-free list.

In 2019, Avon ended all regulatory-required animal testing, making it the first global beauty company selling in China to stop all animal testing of ingredients and products across all its brands by developing new ways to deliver products that do not require animal testing, such as reformulating products. PETA has since announced that it has added Avon Products Inc. to their list of companies "Working for Regulatory Change".

Withdrawal from major markets

In October 2013, Avon announced the closure of its branch in France at the end of that month. Its French employees accused it of keeping the workers in the dark for months and not acting in line with the company's publicly stated values of being a socially responsible company that upholds values of trust, respect and integrity and a culture of "open and candid communication." As of January 2014, Avon France was in receivership.

This was followed by an announcement via Facebook on February 15, 2018, that Avon Australia and New Zealand would close by the end of the year. This decision resulted in the loss of 220 jobs and 21,400 sales representatives. The company has attracted criticism for poor communication with its customers and employees.

Avon is still active in Russia and is recruiting more people and continuing to manufacture products as of January 2024.

References

References

1. "Natura & Co 2020 Annual Report".
2. "Avon Products".
3. (May 23, 2019). "Brazil cosmetics giant Natura buys Avon in all-shares transaction".
4. (May 23, 2019). "Natura agrees to buy Avon, creating cosmetics powerhouse".
5. (March 13, 2015). "Celgene, Kinder Morgan and Actavis Set to Join the S&P 100; Several Constituent Changes Announced for S&P 500, S&P MidCap 400 and S&P SmallCap 600".
6. "US SEC: Form 10-K Avon Products, Inc.". [[U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission]].
7. "US SEC: Form 8-K (Feb 3, 2018)". [[U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission]].
8. (December 31, 2018). "US SEC:FORM 10-K AVON PRODUCTS, INC.". [[United States Securities and Exchange Commission]].
9. (March 16, 2016). "Avon to cut 2,500 jobs, move headquarters to Britain".
10. "Top 20 Companies in 2019 | Beauty Packaging".
11. Kowitt, Beth. (April 30, 2012). "Avon: The Rise and Fall of a Beauty Icon". [[Fortune (magazine).
12. "Leadership transition in Avon International".
13. (May 22, 2019). "Natura &Co and Avon join forces to create a Direct-to-Consumer global beauty leader". Avon Products.
14. Ayala, María Luisa. (December 24, 2019). "Finanzas: Avon Products: The End Is Near For This Stock".
15. (September 10, 2006). "Avon updates its look, strategy". [[USA Today.
16. Quote from an interview with David McConnell Sr., April 15, 1936. Avon Achieves, IE7, 1936.
17. (September 14, 2021). "Direct Selling: A Global and Social Business Model". Business Expert Press.
18. (2012). "TIMELINE-Key dates in Avon's history". [[Reuters]].
19. McIntyre, Douglas A.. "10 Brands That Will Disappear in 2013". Fox Business.
20. Smith, Aaron. (April 2, 2012). "Avon rejects $10 billion offer from Coty - Apr. 2, 2012". Money.cnn.com.
21. Dominic Rushe in New York. (April 2, 2012). "Avon rejects $10bn takeover bid from celebrity-fragrance company Coty | World news | guardian.co.uk". Guardian.
22. Tiffany Hsu. (April 2, 2012). "Avon rejects Rimmel owner Coty's $10-billion bid - Los Angeles Times". Articles.latimes.com.
23. (March 8, 2016). "Avon Concludes Deal With Cerberus".
24. (December 17, 2015). "Cerberus Strikes Deal to Buy into Avon". [[The Wall Street Journal]].
25. Natura &Co. "Natura &Co".
26. "Natura &Co to close acquisition of Avon".
27. (April 14, 2015). "Avon's in a ding-dong battle to stay in business". [[Fortune (magazine).
28. (March 15, 2016). "Avon to move headquarters to UK". [[BBC]].
29. (December 31, 2019). "LG Household & Health Care To Acquire New Avon, LLC".
30. "New Avon Company Announces Corporate Name Change to The Avon Company".
31. (November 14, 2019). "Avon Secures Shareholder Approval for Takeover by Natura".
32. (May 22, 2019). "Brazil's Natura confirms $2bn deal to buy Avon".
33. "Natura & Co acquires Avon in all-stock $2 billion deal".
34. (2019-05-22). "Body Shop owner Natura to buy Avon for £1.6bn".
35. Min, Sarah. (2019-05-22). "Avon Products sold to Brazilian beauty retailer Natura & Co. - CBS News".
36. (November 13, 2023). ["Avon to open physical shop in the UK for the first time"](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67406434).
37. (August 13, 2024). "Avon Products Files for Bankruptcy to Wrangle Talc Lawsuits".
38. "Da expansão global ao recuo: por que a Natura deixou para trás os planos de conquistar o mundo". G1.
39. "Ação da Natura dispara na bolsa após anúncio de venda da Avon International". G1.
40. (January 2, 2026). "Natura conclui venda da Avon Internacional". SBT News.
41. Klepacki, Laura. (2005). "Avon: Building the World's Premier Company for Women". John Wiley and Sons.
42. (September 16, 2014). "Avon splits with trade group, citing risk of pyramid schemes". [[The Washington Post]].
43. Embrace Your Power, Avon. "AVON Embrace Your Power".
44. "Avon 10-K report". Sec.gov.
45. (May 1, 2014). "Avon's Ugly China Bribery Probe Ends With a $135 Million Settlement". Bloomberg Business Week.
46. "Avon Products, Inc. & Consumer Safety: Commitment to Science...Respect for Animal Welfare".
47. "Urge Avon to Stop Paying for Cruel Tests on Animals in China". PETA.
48. "Avon, Mary Kay, Estée Lauder (and Subsidiary MAC Cosmetics), and Revlon Are Paying for Tests on Animals". PETA.
49. (June 9, 2010). "Search for Cruelty-Free Companies, Products, and More".
50. "Animal Welfare position {{!}} Avon".
51. "PETA Recognizes Avon's Commitment to "Working for Regulatory Change"".
52. (October 14, 2013). "Avon to close its French operations". [[BBC]].
53. Weil, Jennifer. (January 28, 2014). "Avon France Said Seeking Receivership". [[Women's Wear Daily]].
54. (February 15, 2018). "Media Statement - 15 February 2018". Avon.
55. Noyes, Jenny. (February 16, 2018). "End of an era: 220 to lose jobs as Avon plans to quit Australia and NZ".
56. (2024-01-28). "Beauty giant Avon under fire over Russia links".