Short for ‘American Way’, Amway is the multi-level marketing company founded in Ada, Michigan, in 1959 that sells health, beauty and home care products. Starting with its two founders, Richard DeVos and Jay Van Andel, Amway has long since gone global, reporting sales of $8.8 billion in 2018. Built on a highly personalised style of selling, the company’s success relies on an international army of door-to-door salespeople who earn a commission, a percentage of which is passed ‘upstream’ to the recruiting distributor and, ultimately, to the company’s founders. Brands sold by the company include Amway Home, Glister, G&H, Nutrilite, Artistry and AmwayQueen. Currently organised under the banner company, Alticor, its revenues are derived from a huge number of worldwide affiliates, and the company has settled a number of court cases around the world over its alleged ‘pyramid scheme’ business model. However, the Federal Trade Commission investigated Amway in 1985 and ruled that this was not the case. Salespeople are often recruited on the promise of six-figure salaries and are required to buy their stock from an established distributor before onselling to their own network. According to a press release by the company in late 2018, the company’s top markets outside of the U.S are China, Korea, Japan, Thailand, Taiwan and India, all of which demonstrate strong growth based on the company’s embrace of e-commerce technology.
- Family name: Van Andel and de Vos families
- Sector: Consumer Products & Retail
- Founded: 1959
- Founder: Jay Van Andel and Rich DeVos
- Country: United States
- Company headquarters: Michigan, United States
- Revenue: 9.5
- Employees: 19,000
- Website: amway.com
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