Powered by people on the ground, Amway Philippines creates new and better opportunities for entrepreneurs, especially self-employed individuals to reset, recover and rebuild livelihood lost to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While brick-and-mortar stores will continue to be an important part of the Amway business, virtual stores will help the company and thousands of business partners called “Amway Business Owners” survive the challenge of sustaining business in the time of pandemic.
“We see a different trend for direct selling. Over the last year, we’ve seen that there’s been an increase of 10 percent in terms of growth, for the direct selling industry in 2019. And increasingly, direct sellers are actually moving on to technology to address the need to boost their sales during this period of crisis,” said Amway Philippines country manager Leni Olmedo.
She said while the pandemic inflicts grave damage to the economy, lives and livelihood of people on the global scale, is not that insurmountable and may have even brought with it a silver lining where entrepreneurs like direct sellers are given the chance the recoup lost income or augment family finances.
With over 80,000 ABOs in the Philippines, Amway expects to attract more partners by topping another 10 percent, a conservative estimate at a time when people are literally looking for ways to sustain daily means.
The strength of Amway’s portfolio attracted a new wave of Filipino entrepreneurs, giving Amway an increase of 130 percent in new ABO sign-ups from April to June 2020. The company sees this uptake as a way for newly unemployed Filipinos to augment their income during a difficult time.
“In fact the numbers keep going. And that is, of course, a direct result of people who are trying to find means to augment their income during this difficult time. We understand that the times are very challenging. And so people would try to find a way replace whatever income that was lost, and also seeing the opportunity in health and wellness and that we do offer a wide range of products that would help the business owners to reach out to customers during this period,” Olmedo said.
The company has released around 90 training modules for learning management systems and conducted almost 80 virtual trainings for ABOs to be able to shift their businesses from offline to online.
The company realized that digital acceleration will provide the tailwind for Amway to continue the growth towards 2021 and the future.
In October, Amway will launch the Amway Exclusive Shopper, where loyal and interested Amway clients can place their order online guided by an experienced ABO.
The unique strategy empowers customers to benefit from personalized service whether or not they opt to directly engage with the ABO.
The launch of the Exclusive Shopper in October is expected to contribute to the company’s goal of hitting double-digit growth in 2020.
Olmedo highlighted a Euromonitor study on the e-commerce in the Philippines that tracked 75 percent of Filipinos shopping online in 2019. This trend was only meant to go up during the pandemic as validated by Amway’s own experience, she said.
The number of ABOs purchasing Amway products online grew from 8 percent to 40 percent during the ECQ months, and surged to 70 percent with the launch of the upgraded website in August.
Amway’s online selling platform forms part of an ongoing program called Absolutely Amway that highlights not only important of health and immunity but a life with sustained goals both for the end-user and the seller.
The program promotes healthier lifestyles for customers while creating a path for ABOs to achieve their goals through investments in innovation meant to strengthen the company’s position even beyond the pandemic.
“So, when it comes to direct selling we’re seeing it is actually becoming more resilient for as long as the product portfolio is right on hand. And health and wellness continues to trend well in terms of this channel. Apart from sports and nutrition, we’re seeing that multivitamins and minerals and supplements are the ones that are actually thriving in the midst of the pandemic,” Olmedo said.
According to Euromonitor, the coronavirus outbreak accelerated household wellness trends, including demands for immune-boosting supplements and even garden wellbeing products.
This trend has resulted in double-digit growth for Amway’s health and wellness, personal care and home care categories.
On the current crisis, Olmedo said that people, even businesses, have been divided on which should gain prominence–life or livelihood.
“So in prioritizing buhay or kabuhayan, health versus the economy, and because we are a health empowerment company, Amway Philippines can actually deliver both,” she said. “In the face of adversity we reinstate our commitment to spark healthier lives and create the path for entrepreneurs achieve their goals. We know that a lot of people will feel the pinch during this period. We also know that people will also reach out to brands or products that will help them improve themselves, help protect them and make themselves healthier during this period.”
“Wo we in Amway we will continue to be able to address this passion for health and wellness within different pillars of the company with our health supplements,” she said.
