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MANY
marketers will tell you that the key to a good brand is
a great product, and fortunately for Amway, it has great
products in its burgeoning catalog. That, of course, is
the not-so-secret key to the success of Amway, one of
the world’s oldest and most profitable direct-selling
companies.
Amway
Philippines, the local subsidiary of Amway, has also
been growing, starting with 11 products when it entered
the Philippine market in 1997; it has over 100 products
in its catalog and 40,000 Amway Independent Business
Owners—the people you and I would purchase products
from—as of 2007. And it is this same growth that has
prompted Amway Philippines to establish its new
Experience Center in Makati City.
Suzanne
Comagon, corporate services manager of Amway
Philippines, said in the past the space where they would
conduct business was insufficient to deliver the kind of
environment where customers can appreciate the products.
Thus, the need for a brand-new experience center.
This new
experience center itself is reminiscent of a
home-interior showroom with different sections of the
400-sq-m space designed for the different product lines
offered by Amway Philippines.
Amway
has its own line of supplements, labeled Nutrilite,
which is headlined by its flagship Nutrilite Double X
all-in-one multivitamin boosted by antioxidants and
plant concentrates. The word is that the supplement is
taken by world-class athletes such as Paeng Nepomuceno,
and was rated by Euromonitor as one of the world’s
leading supplements.
Amway
has also made a name for itself with Artistry, its
makeup line, which is categorized as a prestige brand
and counts among its competitors other top-shelf brands
such as Lancôme and Clinique. Artistry was the official
sponsor of the recently concluded Philippine Fashion
Week 2008, and there are more high-profile partnerships
planned in the near future to boost the brand’s mind
share. Reflecting Amway’s product diversity, the
experience center truly offers a broad range of
products, including such specifically targeted for
farmers and gardening enthusiasts, homemakers and car
enthusiasts, plus aa complete line of personal hygiene
products from body soaps and conditioners all the way to
mouth-refresher sprays.
The
evolution of direct-selling companies in the Philippines
had trying moments as people are, by nature, suspicious
of things they might not understand. The suspicion also
stems in part from the fact that some direct-selling
companies have engaged in rather unsavory and unethical
practices.
“At the
start, we had some difficulty overcoming this stigma of
direct selling,” admitted Comagon.
To
overcome this, the Amway team worked hard organizing
public interviews, media tours, circulating brochures to
educate the public with the support of the Direct
Selling Association of the Philippines and the National
Consumers Affairs Council.
“Amway’s
familiarization in the US also benefited our cause
greatly,” she said, alluding to the penchant for
Filipino consumers to trust imported goods.
Comagon
said their efforts have paid off, as today Amway is used
as a case study on what a legal direct-selling company
should be.
THE Artistry Booth at the
Amway Brand Experience Center allows visiting customers
to try out its Artistry line of skin care and cosmetics
products. Artistry is among the world’s Top 5
largest-selling prestige brands in skin care and
cosmetics. |
