BeautiControl

BeautiControl is looking to be ageless in the business of aesthetics and enjoys calling the Lone Star State home, alongside rival Mary Kay. A unit of household products maker Tupperware, BeautiControl sells its personal care items through more than 140,000 independent sales consultants, who in turn sell to consumers in the US, Puerto Rico, and Canada. Consultants provide computer-assisted, head-to-toe makeup advice through in-home demos. Its products include skin and nail care, fragrances, cosmetics, toiletries, nutritional and weight-management food supplements, and in-home spa retreats. Tupperware purchased BeautiControl in 2000 in a bid to expand its direct-selling reach to beauty and personal care items.

BeautiControl is hoping to swing back after a couple years of sales declines spurred by the global economic downturn. While Tupperware's North American Beauty business logged modest declines in 2010, BeautiControl sales since 2008 have dropped more than 15%. The company points to a dwindling sales force -- and therefore fewer consultants to peddle its products -- as a primary reason for the missed sales target. Resigned to avoid the same struggles with recruiting, BeautiControl in 2010 rolled out a revised compensation plan for sales consultants that focuses on selling products through spa parties and recruiting. Along with its new compensation plan, the company put Albert Bosch in place as president of the business in 2009. (Bosch succeeded Kristi Hubbard, who had served as president since 2004.)

The company's sales force remains predominantly female. Outside the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico, the BeautiControl line is sold through representatives in select markets within the Tupperware organizational structure. (The parent company's Beauty businesses comprises a larger sales force of some 1.1 million independent consultants, of which 570,000 are located in North America.) Consultants can place orders, keep track of sales, and recruit clients through the company's online service. Tupperware owns BeautiControl's Carrollton, Texas, headquarters and leases its manufacturing and distribution facilities in the state.

In recent years, BeautiControl has been targeting an older customer and the Hispanic market, as both markets are growing. Aimed at mature women, the company has launched new products, such as eyecreams and serums. Items introduced in 2010 cater to this crowd, such as Regeneration Tight, Firm & Fill Extreme Wrinkle Concentrate, and BC Spa Resurface Daily Resurfacing Serum, among others. BeautiControl has also launched the Armand Dupree line of products, targeted at the Hispanic market and sold in Mexico and in the US.