Amway books total sales of Rp 150b

JAKARTA (JP): PT Amindoway Jaya, the sole distributor of Amway products in Indonesia, said on Friday that it booked total sales of about Rp 150 billion (about US$1.7 million ) in the year ended on August 31.

Amindoway's president Frank D. Reuneker said that although the sales figures showed only about 3 percent increase from the previous year's level, it reflected a steady growth in the sales of Amway products in the last four years.

He said that he was optimistic that total sales of the Amway products would increase by 15 percent in the 2000-2001 fiscal year given an improvement in the people's buying power and a more stable exchange rate of the rupiah against the U.S. dollar.

More cause for optimism was the growth rate of Amindoway's distributors, he said at a media conference commemorating the company's eighth year of operations.

This year saw Amindoway register more than 50,000 distributors, with applications to become distributors increasing by 15 percent a month, he said.

"We receive about 4,000 new applications each month," Frank said.

Amway Corporation, one of America's major direct selling companies, started its business in Indonesian in 1992 by establishing a joint venture with local firm Amindoway. The joint venture, Amway Indonesia, operates only as a consultant while the marketing and distribution of the Amway products is handled solely by Amindoway.

The president of PT Amway Indonesia Patric Sullivan said he was optimistic Indonesia, with its massive population, would become Amway's number one market, beating Japan who is currently its biggest market.

Amindoway markets and distributes over 300 products of homecare, personal care, cosmetics, health, and housewares for Amway through a multilevel marketing (MLM) system.

"The most successful product in Indonesia is "Nutrilite" (food supplements and vitamins) which comprises some 25 percent of the total sales," Sullivan said, adding that the other 75 percent was from the sale of its cosmetics, water treatment products, home appliances as well as its literature and catalogs.

To mark its eighth anniversary, Amindoway is holding an exhibition of Amway products at the Taman Anggrek Mall in West Jakarta. The exhibition will run until Sunday. (10)