I wanted to write this post because I once had a spirited debate with an Amway IBO who was bragging about Amway partner stores. The tag line is Amway certainly does their due diligence, as well as partner stores as partner stores would not want to associate with Amway if they were a scam, etc. After reading this post, you will see that "partner" stores would be insane not to partner with Amway. Before going into that, maybe someone can explain what due diligence was put into partnering with Worldcom (formerly MCI) and Enron, for selling energy products and services. Surely all those high-priced lawyers must have known about these epic failures (scams)? But I get it, it sounds "cool" to say that Amway partners with Nike, or some other big name brand as if their credibility automatically transfers to Amway and Amway IBOs.
Now, when an Amway IBO refers to a partner store, we are talking about a one-way road. What I mean is that Amway sells products for these partner stores, but the partner stores don't sell any Amway products and have nothing to do with Amway other than a business agreement (apparently) to allow Amway IBOs to act as commission only salespeople for these partner stores. Amway IBOs take on all the time and personal expenses of moving partner store products, often at non-competitive prices, and get a small commission only if they meet a minimum quota (100 pv), which is roughly $300 USD.Imagine that, a partner store basically has the entire Amway sales force potentially selling their products and the partner store can charge whatever they want. The Amway IBOs are often taught to buy from Amway and the catalogs, so the entire sales force often becomes loyal customers as well. And to make the deal even sweeter, the partner stores pay nothing unless the Amway IBO sells at least $300 worth of products, although partner store and Amway products can be commingled. In my way of thinking, it's a no brainer for partner stores to hook up with Amway. They have no risk and potentially a lot of additional sales. High upside and no downside.
And the cherry on the sundae for Amway and the partner stores is that Amway IBOs will also recruit and train other Amway and partner store commission only salespeople at their own time and expense. Amway and partner stores can't possibly lose!! I almost want to go and create Joecool's widgets and become an Amway partner store myself. If Amway people sell my $100 Joecool widgets that cost me $5 to make, I rake in huge profits and the most commission I would pay is about 25%. It's a great deal because Joecool has zero risk. I only pay if the product gets sold. and I don't pay if products don't move. I might even be able to sell Amway IBOs my catalog so they can sell my stuff. It's heads I win and tales they lose for me.
So if you ever hear about and Amway IBO bragging about how Amway partner stores like Nike, Barnes and Noble or whatever big-name company might "partner" with Amway, you can laugh to yourself and to use Amway's own catch phrase: "Now you know".
I don't think Amway and its AMO subsystems push the "Partner Stores" myth much anymore. It's been debunked and exploded many times on the internet for the fraud that it is, so it's kind of embarrassing for them to keep trying to sell it.
ReplyDeleteNo major business is "partnering" with Amway. It's total bullshit. As you have explained, all some businesses do is allow Amway IBOs to sell some of their stuff. It's no big deal, and it certainly doesn't add any glory to Amway's reputation.
But many IBOs are dim-witted losers, and the word "partnering" gets them wet in the crotch. If Macy's paid a bum ten bucks to sweep up the street in front of the store's entrance, could the bum say that he was "partnering" with Macy's? But Amway IBOs think that big-name corporations are sharing their prestige with a crummy MLM.