Shop Talk
Retailers, consumers and prices
Check Out Line: What’s significant?
Check out Avon’s dose of disclosure.
The world’s top direct seller of cosmetics (led by Chairman and CEO Andrea Jung, shown here) topped analysts’ expectations with its quarterly profit.
It also gave a little more insight into its ongoing investigation about possible bribery in China — which is by far its smallest market, but one with great potential. The company said fees paid to professionals working on the probe were “significant” in the latest quarter.
The ongoing probe has been expanded to additional countries in Avon’s other international regions — Latin America; Central & Eastern Europe; Western Europe, Middle East & Africa; and Asia Pacific.
Avon also had some trouble recruiting sales representatives in China as it moves to more of a direct sales model from the boutiques it runs there. The number of active representatives in China fell 25 percent during the quarter. In 2009, the number of active representatives in China rose 32 percent. In 2008, that figure popped 79 percent.
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Resident Shop Talk Expert
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