The Passion and Purpose Behind the Reinvention of Avon Philippines

Led by Vanee Gosiengfiao, Avon Philippines is transforming for the next century. And at the heart of this transformation are women entrepreneurs.

135 years ago, when Avon pioneered its direct selling business model, it was the disruptor of its time. In doing so, the company would grow to empower millions of Avon representatives around the world–mostly women entrepreneurs. Today, as the world undergoes rapid digital innovation and the disruption that comes with it, Avon is entering a new era. And the new general manager of Avon Philippines, Vanee Gosiengfiao, believes that she can transform Avon for the next century while holding true to the company’s values of affordable beauty and women empowerment.

This mission is both a professional and personal calling for Vanee Gosiengfiao. Relishing the role of transformation in business, she takes the leadership of Avon Philippines with eagerness. At the same time, she remains acutely aware of her responsibility to the hundreds of thousands of Avon representatives who drive their business–as well as the opportunities that innovation provides them.

For Vanee, it’s all about purpose and passion. The Business Manual spoke to Avon’s new general manager on her plans on how to keep Avon in its leadership position while transforming the company for the next century.

Transformation for the Next Century

Today’s Avon isn’t your mother’s Avon. In its 135-year history, the iconic company grew to global dominance on the back of its equally iconic Avon ladies, who sold cosmetics and perfumes by going door to door with the greeting “Avon calling!” The company began operations in the Philippines in 1978, and in the next 46 years would rise to become one of the country’s leading direct selling companies. 

In the Philippines, Avon sells makeup and fragrances, as it has done since 1886. But it has also expanded to sell a wide variety of beauty products. These include skin care products, bath and body products and intimate apparel, and the company leads in many of these segments.

“Avon representatives” may have replaced “Avon ladies” to reflect a forward and more inclusive company, but these representatives remain front and center in Avon’s business plans, even with 190 branches across the country.

The direct selling industry is still growing significantly. From USD 1.37 billion in retail sales in 2021, it is projected to grow to USD 1.75 billion by 2026. Even then, digital innovations such as digital marketplaces and direct online selling have emerged to challenge the old formula for success.

Accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, this shift to digital led to a brief period of decline during the pandemic years and, eventually, new leadership.

Vanee Gosiengfiao, Avon’s general manager since August this year, knows the task at hand. She says, “I want to take the business of Avon to remain relevant for the next 135 years in the Philippines.”

Make no mistake about it, this is a big task. And Vanee intends to do this by leveraging the company’s strengths. It’s all about empowering Avon representatives and tapping into the company’s DNA of innovation.

She continues, “I want our products to still be the aspirational beauty at affordable prices, what our consumers are looking for. And for us to be able to do that, we need to remain relevant to our consumers and to our store shoppers. And that means being able to come up with the right innovations, the right product line at the right prices. But also very important is being able to have access to our products.”

Building on the Strengths of Avon Philippines

At the heart of Avon’s transformation are Avon representatives and innovation.

There are, according to Vanee Gosiengfiao, hundreds of thousands of Avon representatives in the Philippines. For these representatives, the focus on their business has not changed. What has changed are the new ways they can reach their customers through online selling and social commerce through the likes of TikTok Shop.

“We want to be able to still provide that business proposition in the future,” Vanee says. “No matter what channel, how they want to be able to sell, through retail, through e-commerce, we want to remain relevant.”

To do this, Vanee and Avon Philippines have embarked on further empowering and educating these entrepreneurial representatives.

“It’s up to us really to be able to teach our Avon representatives,” Vanee explains, “to be able to sell through these new channels. But keep the value of the brand, and also keep the relationship selling.”

It is here where Vanee reveals that Avon views its representatives as the company’s strength–that relationship selling remains at the core of what Avon does and will continue to do in the future. Digital tools and online selling will not replace but enhance the crucial role of Avon representatives.

Vanee continues, “After all, that’s what we’re known for–to have that one-on-one relationship selling. But you can still have that relationship selling even through social commerce.”

Continuously Pursuing Innovation

Of course, Avon representatives are only half the story. Together with relationship selling, innovation is at the heart of Avon’s transformation–something the company has always pursued.

“Avon has always been at the forefront of innovation globally,” Vanee says. “We have innovation and R&D centers throughout various sites across the world. We even have our own R&D site here in the Philippines.”

Among Avon’s success stories in innovation is how the company leads in the body lotion category, which it achieved by formulating a lotion specifically for Filipinos. This formulation was less sticky but still provided moisturizing even in hot weather. 

Avon Philippines is also number one in intimate apparel, and it achieved this by creating sizes and styles that provided fit and comfort uniquely made for the Filipina body.

Beyond product innovation, Avon also uses market research to answer consumers’ needs.

“We match [product innovation] with consumer insights and market research so that we understand what consumers need,” Vanee says, “but we also get it from a science point of view. Being able to provide the right science and the appropriate science to meet our consumers’ needs. But also, we are very strict about our quality.”

Managing Changing Trends: Beauty and Health

Vanee Gosiengfiao is uniquely suited for her transformative role in Avon Philippines. Before joining the company she had a long career in healthcare, where she also transformed the businesses she was in.

“Most of my career,” Vanee says, “a lot of my achievements and fulfillment have been about transforming businesses. And we are in the midst of that, transforming Avon for the next century.”

Her experience in healthcare, meanwhile, provides an important link to beauty, one that is important even though it is not immediately obvious.

“Beauty is not just about physical beauty,” Vanee explains. “Beauty nowadays for consumers is really about holistic well-being.”

Explaining this changing trend on attitudes towards beauty, she continues, “It’s not just outer [beauty], but also inner [beauty]. And that’s where I can apply my healthcare perspective. Because it’s about being healthy and looking healthy. And that’s the real show of beauty nowadays.”

Another changing trend is a consumer-led push towards sustainability and social responsibility.

Vanee says, “Our consumers are all the more asking us to be able to be sustainable, to have healthy and clean ingredients, which we do. And also being able to have that social responsibility, which we also do. One of our advocacies here in the Philippines is around increasing awareness for breast cancer.”

Empowering Women Entrepreneurs

Much of what Vanee Gosiengfiao is doing for Avon Philippines is driven by purpose. This purpose is twofold.

First, it is about the purpose of the brand. Vanee says, “Always, for me, because I’ve worked with iconic brands, it’s about what does the brand stand for? That’s first and foremost. Being true to the purpose of the brand.”

Second, beyond the Avon brand, there is also women empowerment–something that is inextricably linked with Avon’s predominantly women representatives.

“For Avon, it’s about providing aspirational beauty at affordable prices. Part of our purpose also is being able to empower women entrepreneurs,” Vanee says.

This drive for women empowerment resonates with Vanee on a personal level as she is a member of the Filipina CEO Circle.

“Part of my advocacy,” she says, “is being able to teach and mentor and to coach other women leaders. And that’s what I can also do here at Avon: being able to empower other women leaders, other entrepreneurs. So that they can have financial stability, but they can also have the skills business-wise to be able to stand on their own, work on their own, and work on their own hours.”

It is empowering these Avon representatives that gives Vanee fulfillment in her work as general manager of Avon.

“When I meet each and every one of them,” she says. “I’m so very humbled because they’re teaching me exactly that. Being able to take the risk. 

“I’ve talked to several of them who have been affected, especially during the pandemic. Their husbands have lost their jobs. It was so very hard to be able to earn a living during the pandemic. And a lot of them started their Avon business during the pandemic and they’re thriving now.”

Empowering Avon representatives also has a knock-on effect, Vanee recounts. By teaching Avon representatives, they teach other entrepreneurs as well.

“I’m learning that also with our Avon representatives,” she says, “because they are perfect examples also of passion and purpose. They are so resilient in terms of being able to sell Avon products, but also to be able to grow their businesses. And what I really like is they’re also recruiting other representatives and they’re teaching other representatives, other entrepreneurs, on how to build their businesses as well.”

Passion and Purpose

Passion and purpose are behind everything that Vanee Gosiengfiao does.

“I must say that I’m very, very passionate really about purpose,” she says. “So for anybody in business, whether in corporate or as an entrepreneur, the passion for your purpose is really the driving force.”

This purpose drives her towards, first, consumer needs, and, second, business transformation.

“Who are we serving?” she asks. “Once we have that clear, once we really understand who he or she is, then we’re able to be able to address her needs.”

Second, when it comes to transformation, she encourages businesses and entrepreneurs to take risks.

“We should never be scared to transform and to take risks,” she says. “And in fact, now it’s not about transforming once in a decade. We need to be able to transform every day. It’s not about waiting for the next disruption. It’s about creating that disruption because really it’s better that we disrupt ourselves rather than waiting for somebody to disrupt us. So that transformation has to be a cycle. It has to be part of the process. It’s part of how we survive in business and in the market.”

Returning to the consumer, Vanee explains how putting them at the center of her purpose keeps her going.

“It’s about the focus on the consumer. Because once we have the consumer at the heart of everything that we do, then everything that we do will be relevant. 

“Everything else falls into place, whether it’s about the channels, whether it’s about the marketing strategies, the portfolio or the innovation, or even the business model, or even processes internally or externally, structures. All these fall into place once we’re very clear about the purpose, about retaining what purpose that we have, and about how we reach the consumers and being able to meet their needs and their wants.”

“Passion and purpose are the two things really that keep me going. And what I teach other people also. Because during hard times, during times of change and transformation, it’s really passion and purpose that really keep us straight and true and gets us through those tough times.”

Advice for Entrepreneurs

Vanee Gosiengfiao is leading the charge to take Avon into the next century, driven by her passion and purpose, and empowering women entrepreneurs. At the same time, she is also leading a company dedicated to women empowerment as a woman herself, a mother of “two teenage kids and four giant poodles.”

What advice does she have for women seeking work-life balance? Refreshingly, she admits that there is often no balance. Instead, she focuses on making the right choices.

“It’s all about choices,” she says. “There will never really be a right balance, but it’s having that choice to make the right decisions… So I cannot be there all the time, but it’s during those meaningful moments that I can be there. Same is true for business. I cannot be there all the time, which is why I have the right team around me. I’m able to delegate the things. So it’s also making the right choices, both at home but also at work.”

Returning to purpose and taking risks as a businesswoman, she emphasizes that fulfilling your purpose can also be positive and fun.

“If you’re having fun, then it’s not work,” she says, “It’s fun to be able to take that change and to take that leap and to take that risk. So for me here at Avon, it’s taking that risk of learning another industry. The beauty industry is very new, very dynamic, but also very fun and interesting.”

Text VINCENT SALES

Photography ED SIMON of KLIQ INC

Videography JR RAMIREZ of KLIQ INC

Art Direction ANDREA SANGCO

Sittings Editor RJ LEDESMA

Shoot Coordination TONI MENDOZAShot on Location CO-STUDIO, CHINO ROCES AVE.