Avon Continues to Struggle with Slumping Sales

Avon Products Inc. is working to turn itself around, but numbers still look shaky. The beauty business posted nearly $1.2 billion in sales for the first quarter, a 14 percent decline from the prior year period. The business posted a net loss of $33.5 million for the quarter. Diluted loss per share was 9 cents, down 3 cents from the prior-year period. Avon chief executive Jan Zidjerveld called out the progress the company has made with its plan to “open up Avon.” “In the first quarter, our journey to open up Avon progressed, offering more value, more access and improved productivity for our millions of representatives and customers. Our relentless focus on revenue growth management, including less discounting and more targeted and effective incentives and promotion management led to a 6 percent improvement in average orders and drove overall price/mix up 8% across our portfolio. Asia Pacific showed strong growth, as evidenced by expanded customer access and strong e-commerce sales. Our ongoing focus on training contributed to continued improvement in representative productivity. We are further reducing our costs, driving efficiencies and simplifying our business,” Zijderveld said in a statement. While most figures were down, including active representatives — down 9 percent because of declines

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