Corporate Sales: $10.8 billion
Beauty Sales: $2.7 billion (est.)

Major Products/Brands: Artistry, Satinique, Body Blends, Body Series, Clear.now, Personal Accents, Tolsom, Glister oral care; Laura Mercier, RéVive.

New Products: Artistry Exact Fit Beauty Balm Perfecting Primer Broad Spectrum Sunscreen SPF 35, Artistry Intensive Skincare Dynamic Duo Promotion,  Satinique Anti-Hairfall Shampoo, Body Blends for Men Hair Putty-Xtreme Live on the Edge, Body Series Hand & Body Lotion with SPF 8, Personal Accents Expectations for Him Fragrance, Personal Accents Promise for Her Fragrance, Laura Mercier Lip Parfait Creamy Colourbalm.

Comments: According to the Direct Sales Association, Amway is the world’s No. 1 direct seller company, with a number of categories under its belt from nutrition to cleaning supplies. In 2014, Beauty accounted for 25% of corporate sales. Amway says its Artistry brand is among the world’s top five, largest-selling, premium skin care brands and the world’s top 10 largest selling, premium cosmetics brands.

In 2014, Amway’s corporate sales fell 8%, due to lower revenues in China and fluctuation in foreign currency exchange rates. But the company is not worried, pointing out that Amway has grown by 68% in the last decade, and achieved sales growth in 13 of the last 15 years.

Some of the company’s most mature markets, including South Korea and Taiwan, experienced notable growth in 2014, according to Amway, and markets such as Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Chile, Panama, Italy and Spain saw double-digit percentage growth in local currency sales. The top 10 markets for Amway in 2014 were China, South Korea, Japan, U.S., Thailand, Russia, Taiwan, India, Malaysia and Ukraine.

The company continues to expand—especially with its Nutrilite business—and just last month opened a new manufacturing facility in Vietnam. In January, they opened the first phase of a new $81 million nutrition manufacturing facility in Ada, Michigan near its world headquarters, and in May, another facility in California. Also in May, Amway appointed Mark Stevens as its chief financial officer. He formerly served as vice president of worldwide sales finance for Apple.

Amway is paying attention to its sustainability efforts, too. The company says that Nutrilite is the only global vitamin and mineral brand to grow, harvest and process plants on its own organic farms. Amway also uses these botanicals in its Artistry beauty and personal care products. Overall, the company owns and operates more than 6,400 acres of certified organic farmland in the U.S., Mexico and Brazil.

Corporate Sales: $11.8 billion
Beauty Sales: $2.6 billion (est.)

Major Products: Artistry skincare and color cosmetics, Amway Satinique hair care, Clear.now, Personal Accents, Tolsom skincare and cosmetics.

New Products: Artistry Youth Xtend skincare, Artistry Ideal Radiance brightening line, Amway Satinique hair care.

Comments: Direct-sell entrepreneurship led the way at Amway as corporate sales rose more than 4% to $11.8 billion—a new record for the organization—and a total that earned the company the title of the No. 1 direct selling business in the world, from the Direct Selling News 2014 Global 100.

Although beauty sales are just a fraction of corporate net sales—at a not too shabby estimated $2.6 billion— turnover was strong thanks to the global rollout of products such as the prestige Artistry brand Youth Xtend skin care collection and the launch of Artistry’s Ideal Radiance brightening line. Artistry skincare and color cosmetics are sold exclusively by Amway business owners, and, according to Euromonitor, the brand is ranked among the world’s top-five, largest-selling premium skincare brands. Amway claims more than 3 million distributors and more than 21,000 employees in more than 100 countries and territories worldwide.

In order to meet increasing demand for products, Amway is in the midst of a $375 million global manufacturing and R&D expansion, which includes facilities being built in Washington, California and Michigan in the U.S., as well as a site in India and R&D facilities in China and South Korea.  Late in 2013, Amway broke ground on a $10 million botanical research center in Wuxi, China. The center will serve as a site for agricultural research on plants used in traditional Chinese medicine with the goal of incorporating developments into global launches of nutrition and beauty products.

A Focus on Skincare

Artistry has been making much progress with its skin brightening products in Asia, and there is great opportunity for expansion. Catherine Ehrenberger, Amway’s vice president of research & development has said, “We’re elevating our scientific credibility with forward steps that boost skin- care technologies in Artistry brightening products and, ultimately, improve the lives of women everywhere.”

The company has partnered with Yale University on research in this area, and in May 2014, Amway extended the partnership through 2016, adding an additional three years to the original agreement. The focus is on advancing their collective understanding of the molecular biology involved in skin pigmentation—specifically hyperpigmented spots. Findings will fuel breakthrough products in the Artistry Ideal Radiance Collection targeting skin brightening.

Earlier this year, brand agency CBX redesigned Amway’s Satinique hair care portfolio to woo premium hair care customers in Russia, China and elsewhere around the globe. The packaging, which features a jewel-tone and metallic color palette with premium finishes, received an IPDA Award at HBA Global.