Mike Radford

First with regard “rocket”, no insinuation about his language was meant by me. Heck, I’m an Australian, and you know what our “english” is like So my apologies for any misinterpretation.

Regarding why products aren’t in stores, that’s not at all an offensive question, it’s a perfectly sensible one! To answer it requires asking you a question – how do you decide what to buy when you go to a store? For me, I rarely sit and make a decision in the store, it’s usually a brand I know and am familiar with. If I do make a decision in the store, I compare what I can have the ingredients or value, and generally make a decision with price weighing heavily.

But what if you have a product where the average person simply doesn’t have the knowledge to judge it’s value from an ingredients list? Or a brand they’ve never heard of?

If it cost more, would you buy it?

Probably not. You need “the story” told – what’s the value proposition for you, the consumer? You need to understand why even though the price may be higher than a competitor, the value to you may even better again.

There’s really only two ways to tell that story, one is through mass market advertising, the other through sales people who can tell the consumer the story and explain the benefits. The first requires an awful lot of $$$ spent up front, and for some products (like nutrition) may not be effective at all. In the second situation, the manufacturer occurs only minimal expenses until a sale has already been made. For a new style of product (like Amway’s concentrated cleaning products where in the 60′s) it’s a effective way for a new company to break into an existing marketplace. For somewhat more complicated stories, like the Nutrilite story a sales force in the field is likely a better way to market. Indeed, Nutrilite’s sales are three times the size of it’s nearest competitor, so clearly it works!

Hope that goes at least part of the way to answering your question.
/ibofb

Notwithstanding the business model you Amway associates use, why is it that these products aren’t sold in typical fashion (i.e. sold in retail stores rather than marketed and distributed complexly)? I’ve never tried any Amway products, but if these products really were so good, could they not stand to be sold right next to their competition in retail stores?

BTW ibofightback, i’m Canadian, and I don’t really appreciate you insinuating that “rocket” speaks foreign beause of where he’s from. Us Canadians speak English quite competently, if I do say so myself. I read his posts, and without passing judgement on his claims, his grasp of the English language is far from foreign, especially considering the post put up in defense of your products from “b”, who seems to have failed to grasp a proper understanding in the rules of spelling and grammar.

P.S. – Not an attack Amway, you guys or the products, as i’ve no experience with them. Just a critical question…

If anyone cares to hit “donate” on the right and send me a thousand bucks, I’ll get to work

I would not be surprised if the article was written by one of the well known MLM critics.

It seems that principles like objectivity and balanced commentary meant very little to the author(s).

“Our laundry detergent is also biodegradeable and still gets top cleaning effectiveness from a national consumer magazine.”
—>Do you have a source for this?

a lot of peronal care product quality is in the eye or feel of the beholder. If someone likes it better, good for them, even if it’s a bit more (unless they need to economize). Unless they live in a cave, consumers can price shop. However, claims about effectiveness or effectiveness per use should be backed up with facts.

read about Amway/Quixtar ~5 years ago, when approached by a co-worker. Not my cup of tea, since I’m not really a people person. That was independent of the fact that I ran across anti-Amquix sites back then.

Seems like nowadays, training materials could be provided online for next to no $.

Reminds me of “traders” selling courses to teach one to get rich trading X (options, commodities,stocks). Lots of people buy those course and lose, too! …and one wonders if the teachers really make their $ from trading, or selling courses. Some of these “teachers” get sanctioned by the regulators, though; seems MLMs are less regulated?

I remember one guy on a amquix site had a (claimed) profitable Amway business selling the cleaning supplies to small businesses. He was selling convenience.

You are correct re animal testing. Amway removed all animal testing in the 80s. They said at the time the only situation where that might not be true is if the government required them to do animal testing and submit the findings to the in order to be allowed to sell a product. I’m not aware of any situation today where that is the case, best to ask Amway.