New Avon expands into categories beyond cosmetics and personal care

12-Oct-2016 - Last updated on 13-Oct-2016 at 19:50 GMT

Anjana Srivastava, Health & Wellness lead at New Avon LLC (photo courtesy of the company)

Next year, the North American direct-sales beauty company is launching a new business unit. And just this week New Avon announced the hire of Anjana Srivastava, who will lead the initiative and identify the right new product opportunities.

It’s fair to say that for many US consumers fitness, wellness, and health are much more than trends; they are part of life. Indeed, “consumers are embracing healthy, holistic living, and [Mintel] research shows that these lifestyle changes are driving the facial skincare and anti-aging market,” says Sannon Romanowski, category manager for health, household, beauty and personal care for the market research firm.

This is the market shift that New Avon LLC is responding to by launching a health and wellness division. Citing recent data from the Direct Selling Association, New Avon points to health and wellness as the biggest and fastest growing category in direct sales. Health and Wellness accounts for 33.5% of all direct sales and grew by over 16% just last year, according to the DSA data.

Leadership

As a first step into the health and wellness market sector, New Avon appointed Anjana Srivastava to lead the new business division. Her leadership experience includes top roles at NeoLife International and Shaklee Corporation. “Anjana's broad expertise across direct selling, science, and the Health and Wellness industry uniquely qualify her to lead New Avon's entrance into this market,” says Scott White, CEO of New Avon.

Srivastava believes health and wellness is a smart, next direction for New Avon. “As the company for women, Avon is committed to taking a leadership position on the issues that matter most to women – and her family's health and nutrition is a top concern,” she says in a media release. “An increasing number of consumers are seeking ways to improve their health and vitality as they are becoming aware of worsening obesity trends and incidence of chronic diseases,” Srivastava points out.

Strategy

New Avon exists as a standalone, privately held company so it can return the legacy brand’s business in this region to profitability. Expanding the business to new lucrative categories should help. “As we transform New Avon into the leading social selling company in North America, we look forward to establishing a Health and Wellness destination valued by consumers, while maximizing the opportunity for our Representatives to grow their businesses and their earnings,” remarks White.

The new division has not yet taken shape. “Over the coming months I look forward to building my team, securing best-in-class partners, and ultimately laying out a smart, strategic path for providing Representatives and consumers a portfolio of new products that live up to Avon's industry-leading standards, and access to health related information they can trust," explains Srivastava.