I’ve received a lot of queries about this and I’ve confirmed from reliable sources that Amway exceeded $10.2 billion in global sales for the 2010/2011 IBO financial year. Note that this is not the official 2011 sales figures – which should be self-evident since the year isn’t finished yet!

In 1999/2000 Amway/Alticor switched to reporting sales for a calendar year, to match the Alticor financial year. These are the figures Amway/Alticor releases every February. The IBO financial year however runs from September to August (matching the original Amway Corp financial year), and sales for this period are still reported internally and to Amway field leadership. It is at those meetings that the $10.2 billion figure has been presented. The Alticor figures that will be published in February will include revenues from other Alticor interests, such as Amway Grand Plaze, Fulton Innovation, Gurwitch products, and others. A few years ago they were reported as being around $100 million and they are probably higher today. This means that when Alticor’s official sales are published in February they’ll likely be higher than $10.2 billion.

This is, obviously, a huge milestone for Amway, particularly given global financial circumstances. Another question that has arisen is whether this now makes Amway the #1 direct sales company, surpassing Avon? Given Avon did $10.9 billion in 2010 it’s unlikely. Furthermore, as a public company, Avon reports their sales quarterly so it’s relatively simple to calculate their revenue for the October 2010 to September 2011 period, shifted  just one month from the Amway sales. The result? For September 2010 to August 2011, Amway did $10.2 billion. For October 2010 to September 2011, Avon did $11.5 billion.

So no, Amway is not yet #1, but it is catching 🙂