McConnell, David (1858-1937), an American businessman, pioneered in the door-to-door selling of women’s cosmetics . He founded the company that became Avon Products. Through Avon, McConnell created an important opportunity for housewives and other women to earn money, even before women had the right to vote. Unlike traveling salesmen, women sold Avon products in the communities where they and their customers lived.
David Hall McConnell was born in rural Oswego, New York, on July 18, 1858. The son of Irish immigrants, McConnell grew up on a farm. He began his career as a bookseller at the age of 16. McConnell was hired by a New York agency in 1879 and later joined the Union Publishing Company. McConnell struggled selling books door-to-door. He began offering a rose-scented perfume he made at his home as a gift to encourage customers to buy his books. He soon realized that women were far more interested in the perfume than the books, especially rural women without access to stores and pharmacies where fragrances were sold. In 1886, McConnell founded the California Perfume Company. He began selling his perfume along with his books.
McConnell’s first cosmetic product for sale was the Little Dot Perfume set. He decided to hire only women to sell it door-to-door. The first Avon Lady was P. F. E. Albee, a widow from Winchester, New Hampshire. She sold the popular perfume set and soon began recruiting and training other women to be door-to-door saleswomen. In a revolutionary move, Avon offered women the opportunity to create and manage their own businesses through what would later become known as direct selling. McConnell transformed women into entrepreneurs during a time when only about 5 million American women worked outside the home and only a handful owned their own businesses.
By the end of the first year of operation, McConnell’s company had 12 women employees selling a line of nearly 20 different fragrances. In 1902, he had a full line of cosmetics. By 1920, the company had $1 million in sales. When his perfume sales outgrew his book sales, McConnell quit the bookselling business and moved to Suffern, New York. He set up his first factory there, making perfume, toiletries, and other cosmetics, as well as food extracts.
McConnell died on Jan. 20, 1937. After his death, his son, David Jr., took over the family business, and in 1939 the California Perfume Company was renamed Avon Products, Inc. That name was chosen for McConnell’s admiration of the great English playwright William Shakespeare, whose birthplace was Stratford-upon-Avon , England. By that time, the company’s sales force had grown to 30,000 agents, and its annual sales were in the millions of dollars.
Today, Avon is a global company, with millions of representatives worldwide selling products from lotions, makeup, and other cosmetics to toys, jewelry, clothing, and fashion accessories. Most of the company’s business remains in direct sales, but some products are sold through internet and retail sales.
