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Avon has been ringing doorbells since 1886. The brainchild of New York salesman David H. McConnell, the idea for the company started as a way to help Mr. McConnell sell his wares – books. McConnell used perfume vials to entice his potential female customers to open their doors to him – and, subsequently, their wallets. But his perfume ended up being a bigger seller than his books, and a new idea was born.
Assisted by Mrs. PFE Albee, one of his employees, McConnell started selling perfumes door to door under the name California Perfume Company. Mrs. Albee hired only women as the sales force, knowing that housewives would be more likely to open their doors to other women. It was a huge success. These female salespeople became the first group of American women to be financially independent in a respectable profession. Not that they had the right to vote yet…

 

California Perfume Company changed its name to Avon in 1939, after a product line they sold that was named in honor of Shakespeare. They originally had great success in the housewares market, but as time progressed, they stopped offering furniture polish and cookbooks, and focused on their line of cosmetics and jewelry. 

 

Traveling salesmen became a thing of the past, replaced by malls and supercenters. But the Avon ladies remained to bring their wares door to door with a personalized way of shopping that’s lost in this modern day and age. Women continue to look forward to a visit from their Avon lady and her bag of goodies that can be sampled and sniffed right in their own house. Avon bottles and their fine line of jewelry are collectible items. Their best-selling product is “Skin So Soft”, a moisturizer that had the unexpected side effect of being a powerful mosquito repellent.

 

Today there are over 1.5 million Avon sales ladies (and 2,000 men) who continue the tradition of personal service and sales. It’s a combination of quaint and practical that never gets old.