Book Description
Faced with declining market share and sales, Natura, Brazil's second-largest brand in the cosmetics, fragrances, and toiletries market, expanded its customer reach by moving from a direct-sales company to a multichannel company. In 2014, Natura added online catalogs, physical stores, and drugstores to its well-established direct-selling model, but the results were disappointing. Between 2014 and 2016, three different Natura CEOs attempted to lead the company in the strategic transition to focus less on the direct sales consultants and more on reaching the end consumers directly with multiple channels and touchpoints. In October 2016, the company's board appointed its former commercial vice president, João Paulo Ferreira, as the most recent CEO. Ferreira's challenge was to find the right balance between the direct-selling and other channel formats to market Natura, thus enabling it to thrive in the face of intense competition in the beauty and personal care market in Brazil.ExcerptUVA-M-0943Rev. Feb. 25, 2020The Multichannel Challenge at Natura in Beauty and Personal CareNatura is headed for a big shake-up. We are sure that in 3 to 5 years our business is going to change significantly.--Alessandro Carlucci, Natura's former CEO, January 2014The business of Natura, Brazil's largest direct-selling company with roughly 1.5 million independent door-to-door sales consultants (ISCs), had started to change in recent years. On August 19, 2014, the company had announced that board member Roberto Lima would replace Alessandro Carlucci as CEO. Carlucci had worked at Natura for 25 years and had held the role of CEO since 2005. This CEO transition occurred when Natura's position in the cosmetics, fragrance, and toiletries (CF&T) market was being challenged by other, nondirect-selling companies.
