Amway Discovers E-Commerce

If the Web is the world's largest venue for multilevel marketing opportunities and I received 22 e-mails this morning telling me "YES! YES IT IS! you knew it was only a matter of time before the biggest and most maligned of them all arrived on the scene: Amway.

The biggest fish in the pond drops a depth charge on Wednesday with the launch of Quixtar, its e-commerce sister company. Armed with all of Amway's distribution firepower and a lot less of the cultural baggage, Quixtar's goal is to streamline the purchasing of Amway products while reaching a younger demographic.

After announcing the site last spring, Amway poured roughly $25 million into the site, hiring Microsoft as its software consultant and purchasing servers from IBM. And most important, Quixtar will have access to the inventory and infrastructure of its corporate sibling. MORE >>