Betterware was a

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

-based multi-level marketing company that sells household products. The company was founded in 1928 and passed through several owners. The current owners of the Betterware trademarks are Betterware Global Ltd who purchased the trademarks after Betterware's owner Stanley House Distribution went into liquidation in 2018. Betterware de México was founded in 1995 and has not been affiliated with Betterware in the UK or Betterware Global since 2001. It became a public company on March 12, 2020 (NASDAQ: BWMX), becoming the first Mexican company to list directly on the NASDAQ. It previously operated in Mexico and Guatemala until 2023. Betterware's subsequent owner, Betterware Global Limited, went into liquidation in April 2023.

History

The company was founded in 1928 in

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

and sold brushes door-to-door. It was originally called Betterwear and was renamed Betterware in 1970 to reflect a wider range of products. Stanley Cohen bought it in 1983 for £253,000 and moved it from

Romford, Essex Romford is a large town in east London, England, located northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Havering, the town is one of the major metropolitan centres of Greater London identified in the London Plan. Historically part ...

, to Castle Vale, Birmingham.Birmingham Post Rich List 2014
Retrieved 20 September 2014 It became a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of share capital, stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) co ...

in 1986, and was one of the best-performing shares on the stockmarket in the early 1990s when its share price rose from about 20p to more than 250p. Cohen sold his share of the company in 1997, by which time it was valued at £117 million.Betterware founder nets 40m at The Independent
Retrieved 20 September 2014 Its product range included household products, kitchen and home storage products, personal care products, and mobility aids.Betterware-about us
. Retrieved 20 September 2014 In 2015, it moved two miles within Birmingham, to Hurricane Park,

Bromford Bromford, referred to locally as "the Bromford", is an industrial and residential area of Birmingham, situated between Ward End, Alum Rock, Hodge Hill, Washwood Heath, Shard End, Stechford, Castle Bromwich and Tyburn. The industrial are ...

. On 16 October 2015, the company was bought out by a

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

company CVSL Inc. On 13 April 2018, it was announced that Betterware had gone into administration. Following the move into administration, a

winding up Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end. The assets and property of the business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as wound-up or dissolved, although di ...

petition was presented against the parent company Stanley House Distribution Ltd and the company went into

liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a Company (law), company is brought to an end. The assets and property of the business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as :wikt:wind up#Noun, w ...

in December 2018. The only assets of Stanley House Distribution were the Betterware trademarks and these were acquired by a new company, Betterware Global, from the liquidators in November 2019. Betterware Global restarted the Betterware business based in

Ellesmere Port Ellesmere Port ( ) is a port town in the Cheshire West and Chester borough in Cheshire, England. Ellesmere Port is on the south-eastern edge of the Wirral Peninsula, north of Chester, on the bank of the Manchester Ship Canal. In the 2021 Unite ...

, Cheshire, before it itself went into liquidation in April 2023 owing nearly £175,000 to creditors.

Business model

There is a cost to join Betterware and replacement catalogues have to be purchased. Catalogues are delivered door-to-door in the United Kingdom and Ireland by a team of approximately 2000 Distributors who then collect completed order forms. The products are distributed from the company's warehouse in Ellesmere Port. The sales force are all self-employed. Distributors submit orders online and the orders are delivered to the door by couriers. Covering a non-exclusive geographical area, Line Executives called Pioneers are responsible for a full down-line and they report directly to Headquarters. There are subsidiaries in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. It was a founder member of the UK

Direct Selling Association The Direct Selling Association (DSA) is a trade association in the United States that represents direct selling companies, primarily those that use multi-level marketing compensation plans. On behalf of its members' companies, the DSA engages i ...

References

{{reflist British brands Companies based in Birmingham, West Midlands Retail companies established in 1928 Direct sales companies Personal selling Retail companies of the United Kingdom 1928 establishments in England Companies that have entered administration in the United Kingdom