Amway

Amway (more precisely Amway Global ) is a network marketing company ( a special form of direct sales ), headquartered in Ada, Michigan, United States. The company was founded in 1959 by Jay Van Andel and Rich DeVos. The company's name is a word combination of " American Way ." Amway is a subsidiary of Alticor Inc.

History of the company

The " American Way Association " was founded in April 1959 by Jay Van Andel and Rich DeVos, after they had signed a consultancy contract of Nutrilite in August 1949. In November 1959, the founding of the Amway Sales Corporation, the first product " Frisk ", an all-purpose liquid cleaner, sales followed. This cleaner was produced by the small business Trenton Mi. From " Frisk " then the L.O.C. ™ was. The Amway Corporation acquired a majority stake in 1972 Nutrilite Products Inc. for 22 million U.S. dollars.

In 1975, Amway Amway GmbH in Germany with headquarters in Puchheim near Munich. In 1980 the Amway AG was founded in Switzerland in 1985 the Amway Ges.mbH in Austria.

1989 gave UN Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar during the celebrations on World Environment Day the "United Nation Environment Programme Achievement Award " at Amway. 1995 Amway China was founded, where over 5,000 people are employed in different institutions, the headquarters of Amway ( China ) Co., Limited ( ACCL ) is located in Guangzhou.

In 1997, Amway Germany a partnership with the German José Carreras Leukemia Foundation eV. 1999 of the Amway founders an Internet-based sister company called Quixtar North America founded, which became for some years in North America at Amway's office, but now again operating under the name " Amway Global".

After 2001, a partnership with UNICEF had been received, the company currently has indicated that approximately three million distributors in 84 countries, including one million in Japan alone and a half million in the United States. 2005 Amway Russia was opened in Moscow. On 2 May 2007, the " Amway Experience Center - Munich " was opened in Puchheim near Munich. In a year of construction, the complex was built with exhibition spaces and conference rooms on an area of ​​2,150 m².

The central warehouse from Amway in Europe is located in Venlo, the Netherlands.

Controversies

1979 examined the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC ) if the system of Amway is an illegal pyramid or pyramid scheme. The FTC Chairman Robert Pitofsky said no. Nevertheless, Amway has been granted a number of conditions. Thus, all statements about possible profits and sales figures of its dealers, the company has since then also face figures on the actual average profits. The FTC found that the average Amway distributor less than 100 U.S. dollars per month and more than half made ​​no profit.

1983 Amway was convicted in Canada for tax evasion and customs fraud and had to pay in the course of a comparison of 25 million Canadian dollars - the highest penalty that was ever imposed in Canada. 1986 injured Amway in the U.S., the conditions imposed by the FTC in 1979 concerning the naming of the actual average profits of its merchants and had to pay $ 100,000 as punishment.

Sales

Total sales for the Alticor Group in 2011 amounted to 10.9 billion U.S. dollars, 400 million to the Access Business Group (ABG ), and Alticor Corporate Enterprises. Around two-thirds of global sales of Amway is achieved in Asia. Alone in China accounts for around 2 billion U.S. dollars in sales, which is by far the biggest market for Amway China, followed by Japan and Korea. In Europe, the company reported 2008 global revenues of 1.4 billion U.S. dollars. In Germany about 135 million U.S. dollars.

Production

The production range includes more than 450 of Amway Amway home-made products in the areas of personal care, cosmetics, and accessories. From Amway product brands are guided, inter alia, Artistry and Nutrilite. According to self-reported Amway has 700 worldwide patents on its products, 500 patents are located according to its own information in preparation.