Written by Parsons Green

Beginning October 15, Mary Kay will have a storefront on Amazon. A letter and video were posted on InTouch explaining that Mary Kay is doing this to stop private sellers from listing Mary Kay items on Amazon. Once the storefront is open, Mary Kay will be able to force Amazon to remove listings from unauthorized sellers. They will only be offering five products on the site, at a higher cost than what a customer would pay if they purchased from a consultant at the full retail price.

Directors found out about this change on the top directors trip in September, and this was announced to the sales force this week.

Several NSD’s and sales directors shared their thoughts on Voxer messages and YouTube Videos.

In Lisa Madsen’s Voxer, said she was on a Zoom last week where she heard the news, and then yesterday the inner circle directors had a meeting with Ryan Rogers. He said that the profits from Amazon will go to the company (no consultant cut) but this money will be used to build the brand. They need to make the brand appeal to younger folks, like her grandaughters who do a lot of shopping on TikTok. Mary Kay can end this partnership at any time. She said her unwavering faith in this company has given her 30+ years of success. She still has skin in her game because her daughter inherited her million dollar unit. She remembered when the PCP program was created. Many thought that this was the company’s way of bypassing consultants but it did not So trust in the company. She retires in January.

A consultant recorded Kristin Sharpe discussing this and posted it to Voxer. Kristin states that products on Amazon are either counterfeit, or are products consultants ordered in bulk to achieve seminar recognition. (What???? I thought that nasty Pink Truth was lying when they said that consultants and directors are buying their achievements???)

Lia Carter also shared this would prevent the sale of counterfeit products. Nike and Kendra Scott also have similar Amazon storefronts.

Emily Schuete mentions that this is being done to protect the company from the regulatory powers that be. She didn’t mention the FTC by name, but they could be concerned that the majority of purchases by consultants are to stockpile inventory that is never sold to an an end customer.

Julie Gambina Thomas states she was part of a company panel to discuss the Amazon problem. She personally had potential recruits decline the Mary Kay opportunity because they didn’t believe customers would pay full retail price for something they could get cheaper on Amazon.

Reaction from the consultants was mixed! Some consultants love the change, and see the need to cut out the Amazon listings. Others ask why they can’t sell on Amazon themselves. Amazon should route orders to a local consultant in the customer’s area. Amazon should also have a disclaimer that reminds consumers that they can buy product cheaper from a consultant.

Mary Kay Ash died in 2001. Twenty four years later, her grandson is doing whatever he can to keep the company alive and profitable. Could the company be eliminating the sales force?