I am so proud of my brother Marc he was recently featured in Greensboro’s ‘The Business Journal’ and even made the front page! Marc has been part of Market America since my husband JR and I founded the company almost 20 years ago. My brother Marc has always played an important role in Market America’s growth and success from packing boxes at our first facility to now running our daily operations as our company’s chief operating office, Marc is definitely a huge asset to Market America. I recommend all of you read his interview it explains our business model, shop.com‘s acquisition and our paid to shop program you will be inspired!
Up Close: Marc Ashley, COO, Market America Just as the Internet began taking off about two decades ago, Marc Ashley was launching a direct sales business in Greensboro with his sister Loren Ridinger and her husband, JR Ridinger.
That fortuitous timing helped Market America emerge into an international Internet retailer that today generates more than $400 million in sales annually. From the company’s 200,000-square-foot headquarters on Pleasant Ridge Road, Ashley serves as Market America’s chief operating officer and runs day-to-day operations for a company that not only sells its own line of products but also sells goods from stores including Target, Gap, Old Navy and Neiman Marcus. The company’s offerings range from cosmetics to home appliances to furniture.
Market America sells products in a variety of ways: The company has an army of independent sales representatives, or consultants, who sell goods to customers face-to-face as well as through a customized website that Market America provides. Customers who have not been in contact with an independent representative can shop for products directly on Market America’s website. Those customers will be assigned a shopping consultant, who tailors products to a specific shopper’s needs. Market America employs 550 employees in the Triad and a total of 650 worldwide.
Briefly describe the company’s business model? It’s an Internet marketing company that specializes in one-to-one marketing. It’s a high-tech, high-touch company. High-tech from the standpoint of using the Internet to sell products and services. But high touch where each customer works directly with a personal consultant who finds out everything about the consumer, and tailors products to their needs.
What do your sales representatives do? They are strictly independent contractors. We have many who are full time. We have some who do it part-time to make an extra $300, $400, $500 a month. They have their own unique website. We host them, we power them. For any sales that occur on their web site, they automatically get paid for that. They also sell products one-on-one (in person). It’s generated thousands of new customers through Market America that we never could I think captured before. It’s also a way for customers to have a way to continue to go and buy from the site again and again. Without that presence, I don’t think we’d have as many repeat shoppers, repeat buyers, new customers.
Market America recently bought Shop.com. What led to the purchase? We had a relationship with them already. We always respected their technology. They drew five times the traffic that we did. The problem is they didn’t do a great job of capturing those customers and keep them coming back. I knew it was a marriage made in heaven. (Note: Shop.com is an online website that sells products including clothes, shoes and electronics.)
What’s attractive about Shop.com? They are a comparative shopping engine and they’ve been in the business 13 years so their technology is second to none. They’re 90 minutes from the Silicon Valley. They have great technology people.
Will you combine the Market America and Shop.com sites? Yes. Right now they are separate. We are integrating the technology.
How will the acquisition affect future growth? It’s giving us a whole new revenue stream of customers, five times the amount that Market America is getting. We have fewer customers but we have more volume because they keep coming back and buying. Once we integrate our sites, Shop’s customers, our customers, all of our sales representatives are going to one site to buy.
Is Market America considering any other acquisitions? Not at the moment. If something came our way that would work well with our business, we would look at it.
The company expanded with offices in the Philippines last year. How is that meeting expectations? It’s actually not doing as well as we expected it to, which is OK. Sales are probably going to hit about $1 million this year. It’s not going crazy, but it’s starting to build up. We’ve seen some nice growth since we’ve started. It’s going to be a solid market for us just like Australia. In Australia, we do about $12 million a year. Our huge markets are Taiwan and Hong Kong.
The company has a “cashback” program. How does that work? You can go on to Market America.com and soon Shop.com and you can buy anything. We pay you up to 35 percent cash back, sometimes more, for any purchase that you make.
How does Market America make money paying customers? The concept is obviously going to increase our customer base which it absolutely has. It’s really helped catapult our business significantly.
How much of a local economic impact does your annual international convention have in Greensboro at the Coliseum? It brings in $20 million plus into the economy in Greensboro in four days. It’s really a platform that we use to introduce new products.
f you were to choose a different career what would it be? I love sports, and my dream was always to be a sportscaster.
Who is your role model? JR Ridinger (company CEO.) It’s like a Bobby Knight-Coach K relationship. He is definitely my mentor business-wise.
xo Loren
