Amway (short for American Way) is an American multinational direct-selling company that sell a variety of products, primarily in the health, beauty, and home care markets to consumers and independent business owners.
Amway was founded in 1959 by Jay Van Andel and Richard DeVos. Based in Ada, Michigan, the company and family of companies under Alticor reported sales of $$11.3 billion for the year ended December 31, 2012 - the seventh consecutive year of growth for the company.
Brands
Today Amway manufactures over 450 products, with manufacturing facilities in China, India and the United States, as well as Nutrilite organic farms in Brazil, Mexico and the United States (California and Washington State). Amway brands include: Artistry, Atmosphere, Body Blends, Body Works, Clear Now, eSpring, Fulton Street, Glister, iCook, Kahve, legacy of Clean, Nutrilite, Peter Island, Perfect Empowered Drinking Water, Personal Accents, Ribbon, Satinique, Tolsom, XS, and Zsenso
Business Model
Amway provides an opportunity for anyone to use their products to run their own businesses or for personal consumption at discounted prices. Independent Business Owners (IBOs) may market products directly to potential customers and may also sponsor and train other people to become IBOs. IBOs may earn income both from the retail markup on any products they sell personally, plus a differential performance bonus based on the business volume they and their downline (IBOs they have sponsored) have generated.[3] In other words, every IBO is paid by performance instead of position therefore downlines may earn more than uplines. Amway provides optional training to the IBOs on products and business skills through the sale of business support materials, for example, DVDs, CDs, seminars, literature and sales aids materials.