What is the Name of the Girls Who Sold Items at Speak Easy Parties
HOME PARTIES, WHERE THE SELLING IS EASY
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September 3, 1981
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THE setting is an Upper East Side co-op and the gathering is middle-aged preppy. Standing at the entrance to the elegantly furnished living room, Corinne Borrelli takes a plastic bowl from a table, seals it shut, then lifts the lid slightly to expel air.
''Hear the air come out when I burp it?'' she asks. The men and women nod solemnly. The occasion is a Tupperware ''home party,'' one of about five million held across the United States each year. The merchandise bearing the Tupperware label is among a growing number of products sold in the American living room these days - housewares, cosmetics, clothing, toys, plants, craft items, even sexual aids. The parties take place in homes at every socio-economic level, in cities as well as in the suburbs.
''With the increase in working women, who have less time to shop, the party plan is increasingly attractive,'' said Neil Offen, president of the Direct Selling Association, a Washington-based tradegroup. It estimates that as many as 50,000 ho me-sale parties are held across the country nightly.
The motivations of the party givers and partygoers can be as numerous as the products offered. As Mr. Offen noted, some women view parties as a time-saving way to buy what they need, while party givers may be attracted by the promise of a gift or a discount, which can be significant if their guests buy a lot.
Another factor is friendly blackmail. Many women agree to play hostess because friends or relatives who sell the products ask them to. ''I don't like to say no,'' said Ethel McAllister, a computer programmer who gave a Tupperware party for a neighbor and a coppercookware party for a friend. Susan Strong, a part-time teacher in Connecticut, said, ''A lot of times I'll go just because they need an extra body,''
For many women - and, increasingly, for men - the parties can also be an excuse to spend an enjoyable evening with friends. ''It's a way of getting lots of friends together whom I wouldn't see otherwise,'' said Mrs. Strong, who reckons that she has given 25 parties in seven years and has attended up to 100 - for Tupperware, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Stanley Home Products, Queen's-Way to Fashion clothes, Tri-Chem liquid embroidery and other products. Mrs. Strong, the mother of 10-year-old twins, said most of her friends have toddlers and ''sometimes it's the only way they get away from the kids.''
''I like to have parties with themes,'' said Emily Andren, a systems engineer for I.B.M. and the hostess of the Tupperware party on the Upper East Side. ''I like Tupperware, and most people like Tupperware.'' Her husband, John, an officer in corporate finance at Manufacturers Hanover, was appalled by the idea at first. ''Then I thought, Why not?'' he went on. ''We like to entertain a lot, and there are only so many cocktail parties you can have.''
Some popular products like Tupperware are available only at home parties. The company adds a new or improved item every 60 days to give people a reason to give or attend a party.
Other products may be sold in shops or in ways that deter would-be customers. ''Who wants to go into a sex shop to look at this stuff?'' said Deborah Hitchens, a sales representative for Just for Play, a New York-based company that sells negligees and sexual aids.
From the seller's perspective, making items available only through home parties contributes to what some industry observers describe as ''product mystique,'' and parties, with 6 to 20 guests, are considered a more efficient, potentially more lucrative means of selling than door-to-door visits.
By seeking out customers in their homes, the companies reduce their advertising expenditures and bypass the retail middlemen, pocketing more of the profit. They have access to a vast sales force - mostly women who want part-time work - and pay mainly by commission, paring overhead.
Acc ording t o the trade group, direct sales - including door-to-doorsales by comp anies such as Avon - are estimated at $9 billion for 1980 and are likely to increase to $10 billion this year. More than 40 percent, o r $4 billion in 1981, is accounted for by home parties.
Whether a home party is fun depends to a large degree on the ''presenter'' making the sales pitch. That the guests relax and enjoy themselves is in her best interest because people having a good time are more likely to spend, company spokesmen say. Accordingly, many of the parties begin with standard party games.
At the Tupperware party, Mrs. Borrelli led the guests through a round of alliterative introductions (''My name is Emily and I came here by elephant from Ethiopia'') and had them guess the number of notches in a Tupperware pie server. The winner was invited to choose a prize from a tray of small Tupperware items.
Presenters for Just for Play often start with a ''sex trivia quiz'' that includes such questions as ''Which Greek philospher has a retreat in New York named after him?'' and ''Who was the first female centerfold in Playboy magazine?'' For being the first to shout out the correct answers (Plato and Marilyn Monroe) a guest receives points and a prize.
Because of the nature of the company's products, the quiz is at once a useful icebreaker and a not too subtle means of pinning down prospective party givers. The most heavily weighted question (75 points) is, ''Who would like to have the next party?'' In the Just for Play training manual, moreover, presenters are advised to conclude with a raffle, in which only those people willing to have the next party may participate - tossing in cards with name, address and telephone number.
Typically, a presentation lasts an hour to 90 minutes. At Tupperware and other housewares parties, the goods are displayed with brief explanations. Just for Play lotions are passed around, dabbed on wrists and tasted (''They're noncaloric,'' the presenter remarks). At cosmetics parties , where the num ber of guests is generally kept to six or fewer, presenters ma y make up each woman. Other parties become impromptu fashion shows, with guests modeling costume jewelry or clothing.
''Buying clothes from a catalogue is difficult,'' Mrs. Strong said, ''but at a party there will usually be two or three sizes in each style to try on.''
After the presentation the party tends to take over, but guests line up to examine the products and place their orders - or, in the case of Just for Play, withdraw to another room to submit their order forms in privacy.
The orders are often substantial. At the Andrens' party, sales exceeded $300, with one woman accounting for $150. ''It seems like a nice catalyst for a social evening,'' said Jim Spanier, a market research director who attended the Tupperware party. Everyone seemed to agree. By another measure, too, the evening was a success: two guests agreed to give Tupperware parties.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/1981/09/03/garden/home-parties-where-the-selling-is-easy.html
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