Origins Of Top Businesses: How Avon Products, INC Was Accidentally Started

This section of our site is called “Origins Of Top Businesses.”  

It features interesting facts about the early years of well-known businesses.

These facts are given to you for fun and inspiration.
Fun because how many top businesses started out is really surprising.
Inspiring because it will help you as a business owner see that if they can do it, so can you.

Now for today’s facts:

• David H. McConnell accidentally started Avon in 1886.
• He sold books door-to-door, but to attract female customers he decided to offer little gifts of perfume.
• Before long, the perfume he was giving away had become more popular than the books he was selling.
• He wisely decided to shift his focus from books to perfume and founded the California Perfume Company, which later became Avon.