I gave Amway Scandinavia a bit of a slam the other day for some of their partner store pricing and it provoked some interesting comments. What seems clear is some markets seem to do a good job of setting up good deals for ABOs, others are not so good at it. I’m curious as to how these deals are setup and who is consulted. My feeling is if it’s not obviously a good deal when a new ABO or prospect looks at it, then the deal shouldn’t be done at all. It matters – I’m sure I’m not alone amongst ABOs in having had prospects return waving printouts of supposed “price comparisons” done by anti-Amway zealots and claiming the whole thing was a rip-off. I’m fundamentally lazy – why make Amway harder than it has to be?
So, in the interests of making it easier, and a more positive note for Amway Europe, here’s a price comparison I did recently (2009-08-20) of a range of Amway products in the UK. I did the comparison after a critic I was engaged in debate with claimed that with outlets like Tesco and ADSA –
“(the price of) Amway products (in the UK) are so out of kilter as to be ludicrous.”
I had no idea if he was right or wrong, so I thought I’d go and look. Here is what I found, and my response ….Any examples? I’ve just picked the Beauty & Grooming catalogue since we know from indpendent sources exactly who the competitors of Artistry are (eg Estee Lauder, Lancome, Clarins), and at more than a billion in sales it makes up a significant chunk of Amway’s business. Let’s try the basic “essentials”, the most popular and on the first page of the Amway catalogue –
ARTISTRY essentials Hydrating Cleanser £11.30/135ml = £8.37/100ml
Estee Launder Splash Away Foaming Cleanser £17.50/125ml = £14.00/100ml
Amway Artistry 40% cheaper
ARTISTRY essentials Hydrating Lotion SPF 15 £15.37/50ml = £30.74/100ml
Estee Launder Day Wear Plus £29.00/50ml = £58.00/100ml
Amway Artistry 47% cheaper
ARTISTRY essentials Hydrating Toner £11.30/200ml = £5.65/100ml
Estee Lauder Fresh Balancing Lotion £17.50/200ml = £8.75/100ml
Amway Artistry 35% cheaper
On just the first page, Amway wins easily.
Let’s try something else. Tesco wouldn’t let me look at prices, but I could get on to http://www.adsa.co.uk.
How about Amway’s oldest and most popular product, good old LOC all purpose cleaner? From the home living catalogue –
L.O.C. Multi-Purpose Cleaner £4.11/1 litre makes 20 litres = £0.26/litre
Dettol All Purpose Cleaner £2.20/litre (on special)
Amway 88% cheaper
I’m just picking some products we use, that are straightforward and easy to compare (unlike Nutrilite), and that are some of Amway’s biggest selling. I haven’t checked anything and found it expensive and not included it.
L.O.C. Plus Bathroom Cleaner £3.47/500ml makes min 2 litres = £0.86/500ml
Flash Bathroom Spray £1.60/500ml
Amway 46% cheaper
L.O.C. Plus Window & Glass Cleaner £3.47/500ml makes min 2 litres = £0.86/500ml
Mr Muscle Window & Glass Cleaner £1.45/500ml
Amway 41% cheaper
6 out of 6 to Amway so far.
Let’s try one that Amway nearly always “loses” in a straightforward comparison.
SA8 Bioquest Washing Powder £9.70/2.25kg – 54 washes £0.18/wash
Persil Washing Powder – bio £8.50/4.25kg – 50 washes £0,17/wash
Amway 5% more expensive!:eek:
Oh yeah, so out of kilter as to be ludicrous
But … every time I’ve ever checked, the “number of washes” on the front of boxes like Persil refers to usage with soft water, low dirt clothes or similar – not “average” type washes. Go check it yourself. Amway’s number refers to average ph water, average dirt. When you adjust, Amway wins easily. Again.
And this is all at full retail price. Active IBOs get the products 25%-55% cheaper.
It’s now 2011 but your price comparison was spot on. Today people are still comparing, and getting it wrong. The prices are on the whole cheaper but the real point is the products are THE BEST OF THE BEST, also healthy for your health and the environment.
THIS WOULD HELP ME MORE
WONDRFUL KNOWLEGE ABOUT AMWAY M BUILDING THIS BUSINESS IN NORTH INDIA
Well I think you just compared from high products, but as you said
ARTISTRY essentials Hydrating Cleanser £11.30/135ml = £8.37/100ml
If you take Loreal/olay/bla-bla £3/200ml ….. just 135ml it will not last more than 3 weeks and how do you think we can spend 11 pounds only on cleanser.
Then i have to pay 10£ on toner , £10 on moisturiser which does not last for 3 weeks hmmmmmm products are good but cost is too high in artistry i used for 6 weeeks costed me £60 pounds(cleaser + toner +moisturiser ) its better to opt other brands and save some money give to charity….
archana, Loreal/Olay are mass market products and are competing with Amway’s BeautyCycle brand. Artistry competes in the “prestige” category.
Beauty Cycle Water Hydrate Replenish Cleanser £6.18/150ml
Olay Hydrating Cleanser £13.78/125ml
L’Oreal Paris Go 360 Clean, Deep Cream Cleanser £9.99/170ml
The Amway product is cheaper in each case I checked. Maybe it’s better to opt for Amway brands and save some money to give to charity? 🙂
Hi ibofightback thanks for your view. And now definitely will agree with you . I am trying the products and loving them. Yes amway products are too good and cheaper as I too saw the comparisions. Even joined it
Hi, im sure youre right, but i would like your opinion about amway spain, i think Artistry and loc are more or less in the market, but SA8 and BODY SERIES are more expensive than the leading brand (IBO price). And if you check Nutrilite prices, are in some cases 3 times the price in USA and with less nutritional values.
For example price IBO for SA8 powder 2,25kg is 22,63€ (i better get acount in UK and send it myself by mail to spain).
Nutrilite Daily 60 caps,recomended sale price is 27,66€ vs $11,30 90caps in USA. (and US has a higer vitamin dosage).
I could give you more details if needed.
Thanks
Hi Paul,
The Daily price in the US dropped dramatically a couple of years ago. I don’t think it’s dropped anywhere else. Here in Sweden SA8 is roughly the same price as your quoting, 23€ at IBO price. Body Series I’ve found difficult to price compare due to the concentration and lack of recommended per use information. It has seemed to be cost competitive as best I can tell. When I get the time I intend setting up amwaypricecomparisons.com so we can compare retail pricing with competitors and across markets. That should help Amway make better judgements, and if necessary put some pressure on them to fix it where it might need fixing!
Please note the Taxes in Country are different, there may be requirement to pay import taxes by the Spanish Government, for individual package it may be different, or not gone through customs.
I see that you have done a great job at comparing prices. I have done some myself and have come up with the same conclusion. Phil needs to try the products for himself before speaking. We ABO’s need to have this information to help us to help our prospective customers and prospective ABOs to be successful in the business, believing in the products because they are indeed of a very high quality at a very good price.
Amway products are generally expensive in comparison to REGULAR prices at your local store. Artistry cosmetics are not comparable to Estes Lauder, check cosmetic rating sites and you will find most unimpressive reviews.
http://www.cosmeticscop.com/brand_review.aspx?tid=158&brand=Artistry+by+Amway
Everything else you have cherry picked, not to mention these items go on sale from time to time at your local store. Does SA8 go on sale?
Though the comparisons at the following link are from a few years ago, I am sure the cost differences are still fairly accurate.
If you are able to sell sub par products at inflated prices to your friends and family, congratulations.
Phil, Artistry’s categorization as a “prestige brand”, alongside the likes of Estee Lauder etc, is not something that Amway has done. It is an assessment by independent market research companies like Euromonitor International. The link you provided had reviews of 3 products. One was a core line Artistry product, and received a very positive review. One was a neutral review, and unfortunately demonstrated a lack of knowledge behind the science of the Time Defiance range. That’s a marketing issue more than anything else. The third review was negative – and it would appear was a review Amway may ultimately have agreed with, since that product has since been completely revamped and relaunched at a lower price. As for “cherry picking”, I simply picked some of the most popular products. I then showed the comparison for every product I picked. I didn’t “cherry pick” anything. It appears you’re in the UK? I’d note that Artistry’s Creme Luxury product was nominated for a Beauty Award there the year it was released. Many other Amway brands have been winning awards around the world for years. Who exactly is cherrypicking reviews? Me, I buy Amway products because they’re some of the best I’ve ever used. Some I don’t buy because I don’t think they’re good value. If you don’t like them, don’t buy them, simple as that.
And yes, Amway products like SA8 regularly have “sale” offers, either by the company, individual distributors, or both.
This is hardly a fair comparison. You appear to have cherry-picked the most expensive competitor from each category. Why haven’t you compared Tesco or ASDA-brand detergent?
The product listings on the ADSA page have changed considerably since I did the price comparison, and as I note I couldn’t even check Tesco pricing. The products I picked for comparison were known brands of known quality, and usually the first ones that came up in a search on the ADSA site (usually a sign they’re the most popular). Checking the pricing now, *none* of the competitor products I picked are “the most expensive” in their categories, so I’m not sure how you can make that claim, it’s demonstrably untrue. I checked ADSA window and glass cleaner – it’s not environmentally friendly, and is £0.90/500ml compared to the LOC pricing of £0.86/500ml. ADSA bathroom cleaner is also £0.90/500ml, more expensive than LOC bathroom cleaner. The ADSA environmentally friendly bathroom cleaner, a fairer comparison, is £1.48/500ml. ASDA eco-friendly washing powder is £2.58/20 washes (as per number of washes on the box, which as I pointed out is usually exaggerated) or £0.13/wash, cheaper than SA8.
Again I’d point out the comment I was responding to was “(the price of) Amway products (in the UK) are so out of kilter as to be ludicrous.”
Even the SA8 versus ADSA washing powder isn’t “so out of kilter as to be ludicrous”, and the Amway products beats the other ADSA products on price. What’s more you don’t have to be the cheapest product in your category to be competitive and have a legitimate market.
Are these Amway products competitive in the UK market?
The answer is clearly YES.
Thanks for the info, but your comparison is based on the price. How about the quality?
Well, I can’t say I’ve personally tried and compared Esteé Lauder and Artistry but for the other products Amway wins easily on quality. My female friends say the same with Artistry. Often such judgements are subjective though, so it’s a matter of trying for yourself. Amway has their fantastic satisfaction guarantee, so there’s no risk to try!
Hi
This great work by you this is the kind of information i have been looking for. I hope you keep it up dated and even expand it.
GREAT
Regards
Martin Colleran
This are real products and people must see the fruit of what me and my family are benefiting!
just came across your site may I also a big thank you it is nice to see a positive and instructive side to the Amway products.
There is so much miss conception out there in regard to not only the business opportunity but also the products
please keep on updating on amway and local market prices.its makes us more strong to prove ourselves in the market.
This is such a GREAT site!! So much information – I really appreciate your efforts so that we may all benefit!
To all of our successes!
Cathy in the UK 🙂
Great post and comparisons! Thanks a lot! I build the business in Ukraine and it’s always useful to hear from overseas what is what in your countries. Thank you so much!
Good post and good comparisons.