Zealous Avon Lady gets a makeover

The Avon Lady, nails manicured and face caked with the company's latest colour range, is on the doorstep with a new brochure of cosmetics, perfumes and gifts.

She might seem like she's caught in a time warp from 1960s America, but look closer, and the white gloves and neatly pinned beehive hair are gone.

She is actually one of Ireland's 3,500 Avon representatives, keeping the company's door-to-door selling tradition alive.

"Ding, dong, Avon calling" said the 1950s television advertisement, but this week it is not just a lone Avon Lady but senior Avon executives from all over the globe who are knocking on Ireland's door.

Avon's seven-year-old Irish division, Avon Ireland, is itself hosting the company's annual European finance conference in Dublin.

"Avon are the largest direct sellers in Ireland," says Mr Roger Brown, general manager of Avon Ireland. The company trains self-employed managers in Ireland, who are responsible for an average of 50 representatives.

"It's a much more entrepreneurial model," says Mr Bob Toth, senior regional vice-president.

"We have a very strong franchise in the UK, but there the managers are employees, whereas here they are business owners with more autonomy."

Perhaps this entrepreneurial model is part of Avon's "vision" to support women, not just by providing smart moisture complex skin creams and adjustable two-in-one hair combs.

"Our dedication to supporting women touches not only beauty - but health, fitness, self-empowerment and financial independence," the company's website declares.

But self-empowerment and financial independence can be problematic for door-to-door sellers.

There is little point in the Avon Lady calling, if all her potential customers are at work.

"I don't think Ireland has changed in that way so much, compared to the UK and other European countries," says Mr Brown.

"It's so rural here, there are a lot of ladies who are literally sedentary. They are in their homes all the time, and they actually welcome someone coming to the house."

Nevertheless, the company does aim to sell in the workplace. Online selling, a "natural extension" of direct selling, is also a new calling for Avon, according to Mr Bob Corti, chief financial officer.

Avon customers, mainly female, are aged 15 to 65 years.