New York–To better target teens, beauty products giant Avon Products announced it will launch a new beauty business, complete with a print catalog and a Website. The teen business, which will not debut until early 2003, will also use teen “Avon ladies” to sell to other teens.
Avon hired magazine publishing executive Deborah Fine as president of its new teen business. Fine, who will join Avon on Sept. 4, was a senior executive at Conde Nast Publications since 1994, serving most recently as vice president/publisher of “Glamour” magazine.
Said chief executive Andrea Jung in a statement: “Marketing to teens is a continuation of our stated strategy to extend Avon’s brand equity into new customer segments, new distribution channels and new product categories.” In the United States, the company’s largest market, 43% of Avon customers are between the ages of 15 and 34 years old. In China, a much newer market, that age group is 75% of the clientele.