Free Advice to Avon!

I used to love Avon products before the stores were infiltrated with a glut of beauty products.  Every foundation seems to have dozens of shades now and it just gets overwhelming sometimes.

Avon is currently trying to save their business by tapping into online sales.

Avon bets on e-commerce makeover to win back Ladies...and save U.S. business - Fortune

This is a fine approach and it might work.

But I went to the avon website and...what a mess.

Avon.com

There's way too much information on the first page.  The website needs to look clean.  I clicked on Makeup and then Top Rated and here is one of the pictures I found for their Be Blushed Cheek Color.  This photograph is gross.  The makeup is piled up and looks disgusting.  It's not a clean look.  It looks heavy and I imagine the product will cake onto my cheeks the way heavy cheek rouge did when I was growing up.

So, here's my advice to Avon.  Clean up the website.  Less is more.  Streamline the number of products you offer online or you're going to overwhelm the buyer.  Every picture has to tell me I'm going to look beautiful if I buy this product.  Look at the picture from your website again.  Does this tell me I'm going to be beautiful or look like a clown?  I'm not buying makeup for Halloween.

Make women feel beautiful again... make us want to buy your products.

Look at Nordstrom.com.  Their makeup page is clean.  There's no piled up makeup or spilled powders.  It's crisp and clean.  Also, Nordstrom's offers Gifts With Purchase.  Does Avon even offer Gifts With Purchase?  If you want the ladies back and buying Avon, add Gifts With Purchase.

I've always been a fan of Avon because it was the only makeup that I could buy growing up.  But times change and you have to change with the times.  Make a deal with a major department store and start selling Avon inside of that store.  Bring more celebrities into the mix.  Do "Before and After" photos to show me why Avon makeup works.  Invest in your future to put Avon back into present day and present times.

I like Sheri McCoy and her approach.  Avon CEO tells why direct-selling and the U.S. market still matter

Your "Ladies" are waiting to see what you can bring to the table.  Convince me your products will be simple, stylish, and will make me beautiful and I'll be the first one back to your makeup counter online.  Until then...