Betterware
Betterware is a United Kingdom multi-level marketing company that sells household products. The company was founded in 1928 and passed through several owners. The current owners of the Betterware trademarks are Betterware Global Ltd who purchased the trademarks after Betterware's owner Stanley House Distribution went into liquidation in 2018.
| Betterware | |
| Private limited company | |
| Industry | Housewares |
| Founded | 1928 in East London |
| Headquarters | , |
| Owner | Betterware Global Limited |
Number of employees | 5000 Distributors |
| Website | www |
History and products
The company was founded in 1928 in East London and sold brushes door-to-door. It was originally called Betterwear and was renamed Betterware in 1970 to reflect a wider range of products. Stanley Cohen bought it in 1983 for £253,000 and moved it from Romford, Essex to Castle Vale, Birmingham.[1]
It became a public company in 1986, and was one of the best-performing shares on the stockmarket in the early 1990s when its share price rose from about 20p to more than 250p.
Cohen sold his share of the company in 1997, by which time it was valued at £117 million.[2] Its product range included household products, kitchen and home storage products, personal care products, and mobility aids.[3]
In 2015, it moved two miles within Birmingham, to Hurricane Park, Bromford. On 16 October 2015, the company was bought out by a Texas company JRJR.
From the middle of 2017, Betterware were having stocks issues as JRJR took the stocks over and new contacts had to be signed up.
On 13 April 2018, it was announced that Betterware had gone into administration.[4][5]Following the move into administration, a winding up petition was presented against the parent company Stanley House Distribution Ltd and the company went into liquidation in December 2018.[6]
The only assets of Stanley House Distribution were the Betterware trademarks and these were acquired by a new company, Betterware Global, from the liquidators in November 2019.[7] Betterware Global restarted the Betterware business based in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire.
Business model
There is little cost to join Betterware and replacement catalogues supplied free of charge. Catalogues are delivered door-to-door in the United Kingdom and Ireland by a team of approximately 2000 Distributors who then collected completed order forms. The products are distributed from the company's warehouse in Ellesmere Port. The sales force are all self-employed. Distributors report to Line Managers that the company call Team Leaders, each covering a non-exclusive geographical area. Line Executives called Pioneers are responsible for a full down-line and they report directly to Headquarters. There are subsidiaries in Ireland and the original Central America subsidiary, Betterware Mexico, became its own entity after the 2018 administration.
It was a founder member of the UK Direct Selling Association.
References
- Birmingham Post Rich List 2014 Retrieved 20 September 2014
- Betterware founder nets 40m at The Independent Retrieved 20 September 2014
- Betterware-about us. Retrieved 20 September 2014
- Dorsey, Kristy (2018-04-19). "90-year-old door-to-door business collapses with the loss of nearly 100 jobs". businessInsider. Retrieved 2020-02-20.
- Dalling, Robert (2018-04-30). "Spoon rest and egg separator catalogue company Betterware has folded". walesonline. Retrieved 2020-02-20.
- "Notice of Progress in a Winding Up by the court". Companies House. 7 February 2020. p. 13. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
- "Notice of Progress in a Winding Up by the court". Companies House. 7 February 2020. pp. 7–8. Retrieved 27 April 2020.