留学生市场营销专业作业写作，Direct selling in the 21st century
BusinessWorld
(c) 2008 Business World Publishing Corporation.
In a sales landscape where long-distance selling - via telemarketing and e-business - is increasingly the norm (and still the wave of the future), one would think that the makeup lady selling door-to-door would be an anachronism.
One would think wrong.
Equipped with her own technological gadgets and a snazzy "pink car," the Mary Kay direct seller, a.k.a. an "independent beauty consultant," is one of around 30,000 in Mary Kay Philippines and approximately 1.8 million for the global Mary Kay Inc. network.
"There are different kinds of meet-ups, not necessarily physically seeing each other but getting in touch with each other. With technology there are so many more ways to keep in touch. We do a lot of faxed orders, so a big chunk of our orders are shipped door-to-door to the consultant," explained Reena Rodrigo, marketing director of Mary Kay (Philippines) Inc., at a product launch on July 15.
The selling point of the direct selling business is empowerment, the business being a means of self-actualization. The scenario that attracts the woman is that she "becomes her own boss," and is able to own an independent business, set her own schedule, build her own customer base and determine her own level of success. If the army tells its soldiers that they can be all that they can be, at Mary Kay the independent sales force is told that they can earn their worth, literally.
"[Founder] Mary Kay [Ash] started this company to give these women the opportunity to earn a living and have flexibility in their career and be with their family and be with their faith and all that. So the company would never ever cut out the middleman so to speak or the independent sales member... our opportunity for women is a rewards system. Basically, what you put into the business is what you can get back out of it," said Mike Strong, general manager of Mary Kay Philippines and Malaysia, in an interview with BusinessWorld.
In the Philippines, 60% of the Mary Kay sales force are part-timers, and on average, each member selling in Metro Manila has around 50-80 customers. The Philippine subsidiary is among the top five countries, although it comes nowhere close to the sales of no.1 seller China or even no.2 seller South Korea, which has a comparatively smaller population. The former may have the volume but the latter has a unique culture where direct selling is considered a "prestige channel" because it offers customers with personalized service.
"The beauty consultant can offer personalized skincare, personalized color, and build that relationship and spend time with that customer that you wouldn't necessarily get in a department store or purchasing products over the counter. It's really that customer service that makes us different," said Mr. Strong.
The business model for Mary Kay Inc.'s direct selling is that the sales force members would purchase products from the local company's beauty center at a set wholesale price and then sell the products directly to consumers at a retail price. The company provides a starter kit and educational materials (locally, this costs P1,975 plus tax and shipping).
The company produces more than 200 products in Dallas, Texas and Huangzhou, China. Major products are launched twice a year, and product extensions are launched thrice a year to provide the sales force with a new item to pass on to their customers. In a typical year, the company conducts 300,000 tests to ensure quality; there is no animal testing involved as the company is a PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) pledge member.
The star of the current collection is a refillable compact that can be customized to one's specifications, with 28 colors for eyeshadow alone to choose from (only 12 of which are currently made available locally).
This year, all proceeds from its AppleBerry lipstick will be donated to a yet unnamed local charity for the care of women and children.
In the eight years that Mary Kay has been in the Philippines, it's said that as of 2007, total sales have reached P500 million.
Incentives such as diamond-studded jewelry and "expensive trips abroad" http://www.1daixie.com/liuxueshengzuoye/are awarded to top achievers in sales, and training is provided for upward mobility to national sales director of her own sales team. The top position is open for all and each member is only competing with herself, despite thousands of aspirants offered the same opportunity and with the same agenda.
"We really think and we really feel that this opportunity is available for everyone... Cris Boyd, who has been in Mary Kay US for 30 over years, now has come back to the Mary Kay Philippines family and debuted as the very first 代写留学生作业national sales director. She came from very humble beginnings, moved to the United States with her husband, didn't speak English, but started her Mary Kay business in the US by just that wanting to move ahead," said Mr. Strong.
"It's an investment into your own personal business. But we haven't really changed our approach to direct selling, we may be doing more advertising to build up the equity of the brand, to make more people in the Philippines aware of Mary Kay the brand, but we really haven't had any significant changes. It's still a relationship business; it's still a networking opportunity," he added.