The party-plan model may be associated with images of housewives gathered around plastic containers, or lingerie for some, but it’s big business and has taken products like kitchen appliance Thermomix and kitchenware Tupperware into many homes.
The party-plan model may be associated with images of housewives gathered around plastic containers, or lingerie for some, but it’s big business and has taken products like kitchen appliance Thermomix and kitchenware Tupperware into many homes.
Word of mouth is king when it comes to these businesses, which trade solely through direct sales – and the model seems to work best for products that require education before their use.
Tupperware Australia and New Zealand managing director Rose Robertson said that when the storage containers originally hit retail shelves in America, plastics were not common and potential users did not understand their use or buy them.
It was only when a Tupperware saleswoman invented the Tupperware party method that she could get in to direct contact with the customer.
“In the 60s (in Australia) we had to educate people about storing in this Tupperware thing, because people stored mainly in glass, or tin or paper back then,” Ms Robertson said.
Now a $2.2 billion New York Stock Exchange-listed company, Tupperware supports its 8000-strong Australian demonstrator workforce with what Ms Robertson calls pop-up retail stands in shopping centres, which are solely for brand awareness and account for less than 1 per cent of sales.
She said the most powerful element of the party-plan model was in its direct connection to its market.
“It is a go to rather than a come to. Where retailers hope that people come to them, we actually go to people and it is that one-on-one personalised service,” she said.
For Thermomix, the direct sales model works best because of the contact with the customer, according to its Australian distributor Grace Mazur. (See Profile, page 25).
Ms Mazur said demonstrations were key for the Thermomix product, which incorporates multiple functions of many standard kitchen appliances.
“The customer journey is as important as Thermomix is, because once the customer buys, we deliver, we unpack, we wash, the customer is hands on, then they learn the basics,” Ms Mazur said.
“Before you buy it you want to see it, feel it, taste it. Once a consultant goes and makes five dishes, they really see it and they know it isn’t magic.”
Ms Mazur said customers occasionally questioned why the product was not available through retail outlets, but the company insisted on delivering the product and could compromise when it came to one-on-one demonstrations, which routinely involved many guests.
Thermomix runs on a model where consultants present the product to customers at a demonstration session, followed by delivery and cooking classes.
Consultants are managed by a group leader, who can have up to 20 consultants. Branch managers oversee up to 7 group leaders.
Ms Mazur said there were inevitable difficulties that came with the model.
“The challenge is to train enough consultants and keep the standard the same, to make sure we are consistent,” she said.
“We do a lot of surveys to make sure we get the feedback from the field, we get the customer feedback.”
The Perth-headquartered company recently opened an office in Melbourne, which will act as a training ground for consultants and an area for demonstrations as well as servicing.
Two more offices are planned for Queensland and NSW.
Ms Mazur said while the eastern states already had consultants, group leaders and branch managers, this would ensure consistency and throughout the business.
Ms Robertson said training was integral to the Tupperware model. Consistency could be a challenge but that the company chose to learn from the different styles of its demonstrators.
She cited the example of one demonstrator running Tupperware parties for children and said the company then standardised this and developed a children’s range.
This illustrated how Tupperware has had to adapt its party-plan model to move with the times since the first party was held in Australia in 1961.
Instead of just showing the products at a party, she said guests were now encouraged to be hands on by hosting cooking demonstration parties, including at offices and other locations.
Most important though, has been the company’s evolution of its product line.
While plastic kitchenware has become a staple in most Australian homes and now does not require an explanation around it application, Tupperware has worked to develop product lines that are accessories to other kitchen technology.
In the 1970s, Tupperware developed products that would assist in freezing foods when freezers became commonplace. In the 1980s it was all about the microwave.
“In the 80s the microwave moved from commercial uses into the kitchen and we came out with microwave products,” she said.
“The party has been an integral part of not only taking our product to the consumer but showing them how to use it and educating the consumer on what is relevant for today.”
