![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The rise of mass production, national advertising, and brand identity-the mainstays of consumer capitalism-sent most small beauty manufacturers out of business, and the rest into the hands of men who directed large corporations. Malone and Walker were particularly adept at what is known today as “multilevel marketing”: They traveled around the country recruiting black women as sales representatives. During the first quarter of the century, the beauty industry advanced new sales techniques emphasizing personal contact: door-to-door and mail-order marketing, beauty schools and correspondence courses, lines of cosmetics tied to salons. The cosmetics queens solved this problem by exploiting their intimacy with their customers. Bankers and distributors were generally loath to do business with the gentler sex. The second problem was access to capital and to store shelves. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |