The rapid pace of change at Amway continues, with the announcement below sent out to Amway Australia & New Zealand ABOs (and perhaps others?) earlier today. This is not unexpected given the North American E.Funkhouser range, branded as NAO Cosmetics, was dropped some time ago.

It will be interesting to see what the new range mentioned encompasses and what branding it has. One would assume it will, like E.Funkhouser, be targeted to the younger consumers.

At Amway, we have spent a significant amount of time evaluating our product and brand portfolios. Our recently developed global portfolio strategy that will carry us into the future outlines clear priorities for Amway’s power brands, Nutriway and Artistry, which will lead the portfolio in terms of focus and investment. As our Beauty power brand, Artistry will receive increased focus in order to better support its position as a leading prestige brand.

 

As a result, we will be discontinuing the E. Funkhouser New York brand.

 

While it has been a progressive, trendy and entertaining addition to the portfolio, the E. Funkhouser New York brand does not fit into the global strategic direction moving forward. Also, the reality in our business is that it does not make up a considerable share of our total business and consequently the overall PV/BV contribution to the business is small. This will mean the next E. Funkhouser New York Collection C010, launching 1st November 2009, will be our final salute to Eddie. We are affectionately calling this the Farewell Collection C010. Make sure you and your team take advantage of this great opportunity to stock up on your favourite core professional products and also get the very last colour range from Eddie. As this is the last collection we will not be selling kits as it would not be appropriate to use this collection for the purposes of future retailing of the range.

 

Maintaining a competitive colour range is still a key focus area for Amway. Therefore, an updated global colour palette that meets the needs of fashion-conscious women around the world is underway for Artistry. Product and package innovation, designer-inspired limited life collections, and updated brand imagery will inject new excitement into the brand.

 

Additionally, through the product range, shade collection stories, brand imagery, and endorsers and spokespeople such as celebrity make-up artists, Amway colour cosmetics will enhance and improve the overall consumer and IBO experience of the Amway Brand.

 

We greatly appreciate your support of E. Funkhouser New York for the Farewell Collection C010. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this communication brings and be assured of our commitment to continuing to work with you and keeping you fully informed of future developments.

 

Whilst this announcement soon brings a close to E. Funkhouser New York and signals renewed investment in development in Artistry as a leading prestige brand, we will soon have news to bring to you about the launch next year of another exciting Amway manufactured skin care and colour brand. This second brand will be very different to Artistry and will appeal to a totally different consumer to that which Artistry attracts. Artistry and the new brand together will give you something very powerful to significantly grow your beauty business from next year.