What Else Are They Making?

From mlive.com, an interview with Steve Van Andel and Doug DeVos on the state of Amway. Here’s a quote from the end of the article:

A number of years ago we made the decision to begin contract manufacturing here and we did that because our volume here was small enough we needed to fill up the capacity here.
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Today, it looks like half the business we do here is contract, the other half we do is Amway business. We expect as time goes on that will always shift a little bit to make sure we’re competitive.

I touched on this topic before in the past, but I never got a satisfactory answer on the nature of these contract products and the identities of the third-party customers. Anyone have any additional information to share?

Also, does “half the business we do here is contract” mean $4.1 billion out of the $8.2 billion sales figures came from contract manufacturing not tied to the Amway business? Somehow I don’t think that’s the case, but the way the quote is worded makes it seem that way.

Like I said in my earlier post, it makes sense for the corporation to do contract work if they have the resources and availability. I would like to see more light shed on these third-party deals that have in place. What third-party products are manufactured by Amway and how much do these rebranded products cost?

Doug DeVos Interview on Amway

On Speaking of Amway, there’s a link to an interview with the current president of Amway Global, Doug DeVos (the son of Amway founder Rich DeVos). In the article, DeVos is asked what his biggest challenge has been. He replies:

The most fulfilling challenge has been initiating change at our 50-year-old company–seeing what works and what doesn’t–and then getting everybody, employees and distributors alike, to embrace the changes. Today, Amway is shifting from a sales-driven company of top-quality beauty, nutritional and household products to a world-class marketing organization that commercially applies innovative research and development to improve the lives of millions of customers.

Shifting from a sales-driven company to a world-class marketing organization? I’m not sure exactly what he means by this, but I think there’s something significant in this change. There’s debate over on IBOFB’s site on whether or not Amway should rein in all of the various Systems and create one global System for IBOs. If they are in control of the message — and the rules by which you can deliver the message — that might reduce the System abuses I’ve experienced first-hand and continue to see perpetrated by some. I’m all for reducing the impact of the Systems and having IBOs have a more direct relationship with the corporation.

How do you interpret what DeVos is saying in his interview about the mission statement for Amway Global?

Speculation: XS Gold Runs End Around Nutrilite?

XS Gold seems to be a very popular subject to talk about these days. This site hit an all-time high yesterday for visits, with the majority of hits coming from web engine searches for information on XS Gold.

What happens if you grind up some Nutrilite vitamins and dissolve them in a glass of water? From a nutritional standpoint, would that be just as good as swallowing the vitamin? Could you call that product, More Perfect Water?

How about XS Gold?

Tex posted additional information about the upcoming product on one his site:

It is a combination of several types of drinks, has all kinds of vitamins, minerals, adaptogenic herbs, plus various fruit components, including acai mangosteen, blueberry, pomegranate, red grape, and blackberry. Plus, an ingredient called essentra, which can be found at http://www.nutragenesisnutrition.com/essentra.php.com The cost is $27.60 per 12 pack, retail $36/12 pack.

This is in line with everything that I’ve read so far on the topic. It looks like some super-charged, vitamin-filled, MonaVie/Xango-busting concoction in a convenient 8 oz can. Even without seeing the labels to know the exact vitamin and nutritional count, I have the following question:

Can XS Gold be classified as a competitor, replacement, or supplement to Amway’s own Nutrilite vitamins?

IBOFightBack has stated numerous times that Amway’s top two brands are Artistry and Nutrilite. I wonder how XS Gold is going to be positioned from a marketing perspective by All In Energy… err… WWDB … correction… Greg Duncan… oops… XS Energy.

This is all speculation on my part, but I can imagine the marketing for XS Gold going something like this:

“Vitamins on-the-do in a convenient can that you’ve come to know and love from the makers of XS Energy!”

or

“XS Gold is like liquid vitamins for your busy and hectic lifestyle. All the daily vitamins and minerals that you need are right there in one convenient can. Say goodbye to the days when you forget to bring your vitamin container with you to work.”

I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. If what I’m saying is true, can you say contradiction and competition? If given the choice between purchasing a month’s supply of XS Gold (one case of 24 cans) versus a month’s worth of Double X (one box), which would Triple Diamond Greg Duncan recommend?

What if one day, XS Energy and Duncan decide that their business is bigger and has more profit potential on its own than being aligned with Amway?¹ What if they decide that they could create a better compensation plan for its members to sell XS Energy and XS Gold instead of Nutrilite vitamins? I can certainly imagine something like this playing out, can you?

After all, look at the Supreme TEAM Leader Orrin Woodward. When he left Amway last year, he had nothing more than his 60,000 member strong TEAM tool business. He had to search “long and hard” to find the “right” MLM opportunity for his group. MonaVie isn’t quite the WalMart of the Internet Woodward promised to his TEAM followers, but what’s the difference between $3 juice versus $40 juice among friends?

Greg Duncan is in a better position than Woodward. He has both, his tool business with WWDB and now an expanded product business with XS Energy, XS Gold and All In Energy.

What dream is Greg Duncan selling? Amway or his own business?²

Think about it.

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¹ That is, of course, if Duncan doesn’t get Amway to purchase XS Energy outright and rebrand XS as Nutrilite Liquid.

² This is America, and Greg Duncan can do whatever he wants with his business. From all accounts, he’s a shrewd businessman. I’m not writing this blog for him but for those IBOs who might find themselves in an untenable position within this business opportunity.