So I took it off, and just last week they opened their own Web site. When Tupperware revealed plans earlier this year to develop an e-commerce site, the company promised it would add a field where customers could type in the name of the consultant who had referred them, thereby netting commissions for its independent salespeople, Ziakas says. At press time, that field had yet to be included. Tupperware officials did not respond to repeated requests for comment. But in a CNBC interview Friday, CEO Goings asserted that the move to the Internet would generate new leads for the party hostesses even as it spurred the company's direct sales.
Some consultants have trouble believing it.
I feel we need to reach the people and maybe doing parties isn't enough now. I am working very hard to keep my business working. The retail industry as a whole has had to react to online sales eating into its market share. But Tupperware's unique business model, which traditionally has relied on the personal referrals from its consultants' sales parties, provides a particularly striking example. But with typical dot-com enthusiasm, the market boosted Tupperware's share price 24 percent when the company announced in January it would start selling products over the Internet.