Ms. Zhang earns very little in her new job. But the promise of future rewards is what has persuaded her and about 200,000 other women to become “beauty consultants,” or independent sales agents, for Mary Kay in China.
Avon and Amway, two other American companies that use independent representatives, have even larger sales forces here. Avon says it recruits up to 50,000 women a month, and now has one million agents.
As China’s economic boom unfolds, door-to-door sales, and what is known as direct selling, is sweeping the country, breathing new life into old American brands, and creating hundreds of thousands of jobs, often for disadvantaged or poorly educated young women.
In 2006, after heavy
lobbying from
American companies,
China lifted its
ban.
Since then,
direct selling, with
some modifications,
has flourished in
China, growing into
an $8 billion
industry that now
markets products as
diverse as health
supplements,
cosmetics,
toothpaste and
dishwashing liquid.
Many Mary Kay sales agents say that before joining the company they held low-paying jobs as secretaries, cashiers, and rural schoolteachers.
Many were also looking for a new focus of their lives. “Because my husband is a businessman, and he is busy, we talked less and less,” says Lu Laidi, a Mary Kay sales director. “I felt my life was boring."
"I stayed home, and barely dressed up.”