Mary Kay Lipstick Sales Up In Tough Economy
Written by L J on July 21, 2008 – 9:53 am -
See? Just like your Mary Kay director told you.
Even when the economy is iffy, women buy lipstick.
Mary Kay Inc. reports that lipstick sales for the first six months of 2008 is up 60% over the same period in 2007.
“That tells me that more women are buying lipstick during these tough economic times,” said Rhonda Shasteen, Mary Kay’s senior vice president of corporate brand strategy.
“A woman needs something positive to brighten her day, and a $10 or $15 lipstick will do that,” she said.
Tags: economy, lipstick, lipstick sales, Mary Kay, Rhonda Shasteen
Posted in Articles & Commentary |
Pinkmigraine on 
Lipstick on 
Tam on
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:38 am
“That tells me that more women are buying lipstick during these tough economic times,” said Rhonda Shasteen, Mary Kay’s senior vice president of corporate brand strategy.
WOW Rhonda, you forgot to tell everyone that MK’s numbers on lipstick “sales” come from the amount of lipsticks purchased by your sales force, not the customer. Oh, and Rhonda, you also forgot to mention that MK changed their line of lipsticks, so in order to stay current with what MK shows in their catalogs to the customers and on-line the sales force HAD to purchase the new lipsticks.
Wonder how many of these lipsticks are sitting on the shelves or in boxes in the homes of your sales force, instead of on the lips of customers?
My, my Rhonda, I do believe you are stretching the truth! Shame on you Rhonda and shame on MK for deceiving the public and for making profit at the expense of your sales force!!!!
I might mention that most of those lipsticks were purchased on credit which means your sales force is just deeper in debt at a time when few can afford those additional credit card paymetns and the hgh interest associated with credit card debt!
July 23rd, 2008 at 1:07 am
Oh, and don’t forget the “challenge” to sell 21 lipsticks each month - wonder how many consultants completed this? Which, of course, would result in MORE lipsticks purchased and would be reflected in these numbers?
July 26th, 2008 at 1:05 am
i’ve been selling mary kay for 28 years and i don’t know of a “challenge” to sell 21 lipsticks each month. some unit, on their own, may have that, but, tam, you implied this was a challenge from corporate. if you’re going to complain, please complain correctly, would you? the company does have challenges, sometimes quarter to quarter, but never have they had one like you wanted readers not to forget. i, like some other consultants buy a few lipsticks to have on hand, but i don’t use a credit card and have only 11 currently. a consultant friend of mine doesn’t keep inventory at all and orders from the company when she needs to fill a customer’s order, charging the customer 1/2 of the $8.35 shipping. nothing wrong with that - i’ve ordered from pampered chef, home and garden party, premiere jewelry, partylite candle and a scrapbooking business and all charged me at least a $4 shipping charge. also, even though the tubes of lipsticks did indeed change to black from silver, the 11 i have are the silver ones and i continue to sell them (sold 2 yesterday); haven’t HAD to buy any of the new yet. if one of my customers just had to have the black tube or i didn’t even have the color she wanted in the silver, i would order.
July 26th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
“some unit, on their own, may have that, but, tam, you implied this was a challenge from corporate. ”
I didn’t see anything about Tam’s comment that implied that it was a corporate challenge. She is referencing the many challenges that directors throw out.
July 28th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
LJ - I thought that the lipstick challenge was in the Applause Magazine?
July 28th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
“Kissed for Success” lipstick challenge, 12-15-2007 to 3-15-2008, listed in January, 2008, edition of Applause - it was company wide. Sell Triple 21* (63 total) - think it had anything to do with the lipstick sales being up?
July 28th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Tam, I think I remember now…didn’t those who met the challenge get a “lipstick” charm and recognition at Career Conf or Seminar?
July 28th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
Yep, you sure did, but I don’t remember which it was. I guess I’m not “complaining correctly” LOL!
July 29th, 2008 at 12:20 am
Tam, Lisa has been selling for 28 years. I think her memory is fading.
She told you to complain correctly when she was the one that was wrong. How embarrassing!
Now she has caked on makeup AND egg on her face.
July 29th, 2008 at 12:36 am
Kelly, thank you. You really gotta join the forum - you’d fit right in! We really don’t talk MK much at all, but we do talk about everything else!
July 29th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
I’ve heard this before. Ms. Shasteen’s comments don’t surprise me. The comments run along the line that all MLMs spew — which is the total lie of MLMs and their products being recession proof.
What would surprise Ms. Shasteen (and others in MLM) is that a day brightener for me isn’t a $10 or $15 dollar lipstick. What is a day brightener is for me is to know that I am no longer in the clutches of an MLM monster. Because of that, I spend more time with true day brighteners, which are family and friends.
Michelle
July 30th, 2008 at 12:22 am
Yea, I imagine that my old director would have said “O.K. ladies stock up on lip stick, because women always buy lip stick duringtough times”! WTF? Why did I fall for that, did I really believe that selling lip stick would make me wealthy? WTF?
July 30th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
I remember that challenge Tam. My ex-director used to try to get everyone in her unit to do those challenges.
When did lipstick make anything brighter?! Sorry but I consider myself still an average woman and the only time I wear lipstick is to please my grandmother (who thinks that when you wear makeup, you better be wearing lipstick if nothing else) lol
July 30th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
sorry, tam. the way you worded, “and don’t forget about the lipstick challenge each month” to me implied that it was more than a quarterly challenge. my memory isn’t fading - just sounded like corporate had thrown out a year challenge and that’s what i had never heard of before.
July 30th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
I found it odd that they put out the sales challenge and then report that sales are up - kinda like stacking the deck. JMO
August 1st, 2008 at 4:38 am
MK did one of these lipstick challenges back in 2005 (?) when they revamped the colors to Pink This, Pink That, and Pink Everything Else for the color names. My SD preached to us at training that we had better have at least one of every color on hand before the catalogs get to our customers! She also let us in on which of the new colors she was selling in our town like “hotcakes”, so we’d know which ones to get 2 or 3 of. OH how very generous of her (barf!).
Even during my 50% off going-out-of-business sale, there were some colors that I couldn’t even give away for free because no one wanted them. They really are that OFF-trend and ugly.
Sales are up because MK holds these stupid challenges and awards some cheesy $1.99 prize that they get in bulk from Oriental Trading or the like. If you look up the prizes they award and find the retail price (which MK doesn’t pay, they get a bulk deal on them), you’d be disgusted by how much $$ you “invested” to get them! The 21 (or 39 or whatever this quarter/month/year’s challenge is) lipsticks are largely just sitting in consultant’s homes while MK projects a false sales report. They imply that sales are up to customers. How would they know? They don’t even track sales to consultant’s customers. Entering sales into InTouch is voluntary, therefore unreliable for use as firm sales data.
August 2nd, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Oh yeah, I got one of those faker than fake neon gold looking bracelets from MKC with ? charm, which fell off within 2 weeks! Yep, good stuff. (NOT)
August 2nd, 2008 at 3:19 pm
I too have had my share of cheap prizes and it always kind of made me mad that the apparel was never offered in anything larger than XL and the bracelets were all 7-1/2 ” with no extenders and the necklaces were all 16 or 18 in. The only exception was the beauty coats whichi believe finally were offered in 2x and 3x…I guess they never thought a plus sized woman was sharp enough to go very far in MK.
That kinda limits the choices of plus sized ladies. I always wanted to write them and let them know that plus size women are in MK too and we have money to spend. But on the other hand, I am allergic to nickel which is what is usually used in goldfilled jewelry , so I couldn’t wear any of the jewlery they had without breaking out anyway.
August 2nd, 2008 at 4:09 pm
The prizes are definitely cheap and chintzy. I did, however get one pair of earrings for selling a certain amount of the Satin Hands and I’m highly allergic to nickel. These appparently did not have any nickel in them, because I’ve continuously worn them since I got them 6 months ago. But the 45th anniversay ring, the dream catcher, the regular size pic of our nat’l dir and mk herself were just plain cheesy and tasteless. That’s why I no longer sell actively. Only trying to get rid of as much of my inventory as possible before sending it back to MK and never have to deal with it again!