Is It Quixtar, Amway, Or Amway Global?

Amway Global is a direct selling company and manufacturer that uses multi-level marketing to sell a wide variety of products, primarily in the health & beauty iindustry.

Amway Global was founded in 1959 by Jay Van Andel and Richard DeVos.  Based in Ada, Michigan, the company and family of companies under Alticor reported sales growth of 15%, reaching 8.2 billion for the year ending in December 31, 2008.  Its product lines include home care products, personal care products, jewelry, electronics, Nutrilite dietary supplements, water purifiers, air purifiers, insurance and cosmetics.  In 2004, Health & Beauty products accounted for nearly 60% of worldwide sales.  Amway Global conducts business through a number of affiliated companies in more than ninety countries and territories around the world.  It is ranked by Forbes as one of the largest private companies in the United States and by Deloitte as one of the largest retailers in the world.
 

International expansion

Amway Global expanded overseas to Australia in 1971, to Europe in 1973, to parts of Asia in 1974, to Japan in 1979, to Latin America in 1985, to China in 1995, to Africa in 1997, to India and Scandinavia in 1998, to Russia in 2005, and to Vietnam in 2008.

Quixtar:

In 1999, the founders of the Amway Global corporation established a new holding company, named Alticor, and launched three new companies: 1) a sister (and separate) Internet-focused company named Quixtar, 2) Access Business Group, and 3) Pyxis Innovations.  Pyxis, later replaced Fulton Innovation, pursued research and development and Access Business Group handled manufacturing and logistics, for Amway Global, Quixtar, and third party clients.

After virtually all Amway Global distributors in North America switched to Quixtar, Alticor elected to close Amway Global North America in 2001. The main difference was that all distributors, now called Independent Business Owners (IBO), could order directly from Amway Global on the internet, rather than from their upline "direct distributor", and have products shipped directly to their home.  The Amway Global name continued being used in the rest of the world, and the home of the Orlando Magic was name the Amway Global Arean in 2005. The Orlando Magic is owned by Amway Global founder, Richard Devos.  In 2006, Quixtar published The Quixtar Independent Business Owner Compensation Plan, in which the company reported that the average monthly groww income for "Active" IBOs was $115.  In June 2007, it was announced that the Quixtar brand would be phased out over an 18 to 24 month period in favor of a unified Amway Global brand worldwide.

Product Brands:

Amway Global's product line grew from LOC, with the laundry detergent SA8 added in 1960, and later the hair care product Satinique (1965) and Artistry (1968). Today Amway Global manufactures over 450 products, with manufacturing facilities in Ada, Michigan, China, and India, as well as Nutrilite organic farms in California, Washington State, Mexico, and Brazil. In addition, Amway Global affiliates market products from hundreds of other manufacturers offering everything from books (e.g. Barnes & Noble, North America) to wine (World of Wine, Europe).

Household Cleaners:

Amway Global is best known in North America for its original cleaning products , LOC, SA8 clothes washing products and Dish Drops dish cleaning products. In the January 2007 issue of Consumer Reports. SA8 with Bioquest was rated as the best performing laundry detergent, scoring 99 out of a possible 100. Consumer Reports did however criticize SA8's pricing, which was disputed by Amway Global in 2008. Amway Global's cleaning products were named Favorite Of Experts by an independent consumer survey in Ukraine.

Health & Beauty:

The majority of Amway Global's sales today come from the Health & Beauty sector and in North America in the Amway Global/Quixtar website is ranked the #1 Health & Beauty website by Internet Retailer. IN South Korea, Amway Global is ranked one of the top two companies in toiletries and cometics. Amway Global's health & beauty brands include Artistry, time Defiance, Santinque, Tolsom, Body Serie, Glister, Moiskin (South America), Nutrilite, Nutriway (Scandinavia and Australia/New Zealand), eSpring, Atmosphere and iCook as well as XS Energy drinks.

Artistry:

Amway Global's Artistry products include skin care, cosmetics, and anti-aging creams and serums. Euromonitor International, an independent researcher and publisher of market reports, business reference books and online information databased, ranks Artistry as one of the world's top 5 best selling brands in the prestige brand category, alongside Clinique, Estee Lauder, Lancome, and Shiseido. Artistry is the only direct sales brand classified in the "prestige" category.

Nutrilite:

Amway Global's Largets sellling brand is the Nutrilite range of health supplements (marketed as Nutriway in some countries), and in 2008 Nutrilite sales exceeded $3 billion globally. Nutrilite products incorporate organically grown whole-plant concentrates. Euromonitor has for several years ranked Nutrilite the world's best selling nutritional brand in tablet and capsule form. In 2001, five Nutrilite products were the first dietary supplements to be certified by NSF International. Surveys by independent group Consumerlab since 2002 have rated Nutrilite as having the highest customer satisifaction rating (96% in 2006). In 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 in the nutrient and health food category, Nutrilite won "Platinum" and "Gold" awards in Malaysia, China, Taiwan, Thailand, and Asia overall in the Reader's Digest "Trusted Brands of Asia" survey. In 2008, Nutrilite scientists, in partnership with Alticor subsidiary Interleukin Genetics won the 12 John M. Kinney Award for Nutrition and Metabolishm for their research into the interaction between nutrition and genetics.

eSpring:

Amway Global's eSpring water filter, introduced in 2000, was the first home water treatment system to incorporate a carbon block filter and Ultraviolet disinfection unit, becoming the first home system to achieve certification for ANSI/NSF Standards 42, 53, and 55. The unit was also the first commercial product to include sister company Fulton Innovations eCoupled wireless power induction technology. Fulton innovation introduced the technology in other consumer electronic products at the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show. Companies licensing this technology include General Motors, Motorola and Visteon. In 2006, eSpring was named Product of the Year by the Poland-based non-profit World Foundation of Health, Heart and Mind. eSpring has won numerous Gold and Platinum awards in the Reader's Digest Most Trusted Brand Asia surveys.

Atmosphere:

In 2008, Amway Global's HEPA air filtration system became the first air cleaner Asthma and Allergy Friendly by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.

Business Model:

Amway Global combines direct selling with multi-level marketing strategy. IBO's may both market the products directly to potential customers and also recruit (sponsor) and train other people who become IBO's themselves and in turn have the same opportunity. Each IBO may earn income both from the retail markup on any products they sell personally, plus a performance bonus based on the sales volume they and their downline have generated. People may also register as IBO's to buy products at a discounted rate.

Definitions:

IBO/ABO/AIE - Independent Business Owner/Amway Global Business Owner/Amway Global Independent Entrepreneur is a business partner of Amway Global who is authorized to market and distribute products and services available from Amway Global. Different names are used in different markets.

Distributor - an older term for IBO

PV - Point Value is a value assigned to each product or service by Amway Global. An IBO's monthly performance bonus bracket depends on total PV in a month.

BV - Business Volume is typically the wholesale cost of the product or service sold by Amway Global. Performance bonuses are multiplied by the groups total BV.

Performance Bonus - is the monthly bonus paid by Amway Global to IBO's. The higher the PV, the greater the percentage earned. In North America the Performance bonus ranges from 3% - 25%. In other markets, it ranges from 3% - 21%.

Retail Profit is the markup earned by an IBO when they sell a product to a consumer, either personally or through an Amway Global website. Recommended retail markup ranges from 20%-35%.

Sponsor is an IBO who refers (sponsors) a new IBO to Amway Global.

Upline is the term used to refer all the IBO's up in the line of sponsorship of an IBO.

Downline is the term used to refer all the IBO's down in the line of sponsorship of an IBO. They are collectively also known as group

Leg refers to a personally sponsored IBO and all of their downline

Silver Producer is an IBO who has reached the maximum bonus level for one month.

Gold Producer is an IBO who has reached the maximum bonus level for three month.

Platinum or Direct is an IBO who has reached the maximum bonus level for six months. Originally this was the first point at which a distributor could purchase products directly from Amway Global, and not from their sponsor or upline. In North America a Platinum is generating a minimum of approximately $30,000 in sales volume per month.

Emerald a distributor with at least three legs generating Silver Producer volume for at least 6 months of a year.

Diamond a distributor with at least six legs generating Silver Producer volume for at least 6 months of a year.

Q-12 is a Platinum or higher IBO that qualifies every month for 12 months a year.