Avon heads online with Web launch

Cosmetics group Avon is launching a Website this week, allowing customers to buy online using their credit cards.

The company, famed for its “Ding Dong Avon calling!” ads, is the third largest cosmetics retailer in the UK after Boots and The Body Shop, with a market share of 10.6 per cent by value.

Initially the site will offer a limited range of its brands, including Anew, Colour Trends, and its Parfum Creatifs fragrances.

Avon uses 160,000 door-to-door reps, and the company says that this salesforce will remain at the core of the business.

The company, which claims that 3 million customers buy products every three weeks, has 10 million UK customers.

However, door-to-door sales have always been a problem in big cities, because of concern for the safety of women reps.

Last year the company recorded worldwide sales of 1bn.