I'm searching for information on two businesses: Britt World Wide and
Quixtar or Quixtar.com.  I would like 1) any information that may be
available on theses businesses and/or a set of links to sites that
specialize in researching businesses.  Thxs.

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Request for Question Clarification by easterangel-ga on 30 Apr 2004 00:26 PDT

Hi touch0ph-ga!

What particular things do you want to know about Britt World Wide and
Quixtar? 

I presume you have visited the website of Quixtar so you won't be
interested in the info over there.

Maybe you can add more details to the requirements of your question.
Would you accept articles, blogs or personal commentaries about
Quixtar andBritt World Wide?

Thanks! :)

---

Clarification of Question by touch0ph-ga on 30 Apr 2004 03:06 PDT

Hi easterangel-ga,

Articles, blogs, and personal commentaries would be acceptable. 
Articles preferabley.

Here's the whole story:

I've been approached by several of their Indepedent Business Owners
(IBO's) who build their business by word-of-mouth.  A close friend of
mine has decided to get involved with them, but their business model
is "sketchy", from my point of view and I'm having trouble finding
information on the companies (ie.  revenue for year xxxx, number of
IBO's, number of IBO's who resubscribe, how long have they been in
business, etc...).  So really, this thing, from my POV, has scam
written all over it, and I want to check them out so my friends are
getting the short end of the stick.

---

Request for Question Clarification by easterangel-ga on 30 Apr 2004 03:31 PDT

Hi again touch0ph-ga! Thanks for coming back quickly, I really appreciate it.

I may not be able to provide figures for the following:

1. number of IBO's 
2. number of IBO's who resubscribe

Will it be ok to provide other figures I can find in place of this? I
also found interesting blogs and articles providing background about
Quixtar.

Would an absence of some figures be ok as long as I can provide other
articles and figures that will be of interest to you?

:)

---

Clarification of Question by touch0ph-ga on 30 Apr 2004 12:42 PDT

yes, those sources would be just fine.  I'd like to see a
concentration of articles though. Thxs.

Hi! Thanks for the question.

It seems that I will able to provide the numbers that you requested
after all! I will divide my answer into two categories. One will be an
overview (most of them will be unbiased) about Britt Worldwide and
Quixtar then another category will be devoted to links to blogs and
other articles providing personal observations and experiences about
Quixtar.


-------------------
OVERVIEW:

?Quixtar is an e-tailer and direct seller of personal care products,
health supplements, laundry care products, household cleaners, car
care items, cosmetics, hair care and skin care products, fragrances,
and infant care items. Its online Store For More offers apparel,
appliances, electronics, and furniture. Through its affiliated Partner
Stores, Quixtar members can purchase products and services.?

?Quixtar, Inc.?
http://www.hoovers.com/quixtar,-inc./--ID__100768--/free-co-factsheet.xhtml 


Quixtar is the sister company of Amway. Alticor meanwhile is the
parent company of Amway and Quixtar. Our next link provides a short
profile of Alticor.

?Alticor?
http://www.forbes.com/finance/lists/21/2001/LIR.jhtml?passListId=21&passYear=2001&passListType=Company&uniqueId=B15P&datatype=Company

?Alticor Inc - Cosmetics and Toiletries Company Profile?
http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reportinfo.asp?cat_id=5&report_id=64836 

Alticor History
http://www.alticor.com/companies/history.html 


---------------------------
The Quixtar Business Model:

?Launched Sept. 1, 1999, Quixtar is a sister company to Amway Corp.,
the direct selling giant founded by Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel forty
years earlier. Although Amway had been online for years, the company's
owners decided a new business model would be the best way to
capitalize on the growing power of the Internet. In 1999, they formed
Quixtar Inc., an independent, privately-held company tasked with
creating a new business for the Internet. In its first 200 days,
Quixtar posted sales of more than $250 million.?

"In effect, Quixtar has set out to enable literally millions of new
Web-based e-Business ventures, using its own Web site and Web-based
services as the driver. Quixtar-affiliated IBOs register online at
www.quixtar.com, enabling them to market and sell its products to
clients and build their businesses further by registering others as
members or IBOs. They also use the site to check order status and
account information, managing their businesses online using Quixtar's
Virtual Office. IBOs can access a heads-down order entry form that
allows them to quickly place orders for their clients."

?Quixtar Inc. Creates A New Business Model For The Internet Using
Intel®-Architecture Based Servers?
http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/cn101300.htm


?PLATFORMS: Intel-based hardware, Windows 2000 Advanced Server,
Microsoft SQL Server data warehouse, Windows 98, 2000 and XP desktop
clients.?

?With our multilevel compensation structure, Quixtar sought to measure
sales volume, return volume, bonus awards and other vital data at the
IBO and enterprise levels. Our corporate staff needed promotional
analyses to determine effectiveness of promotional offerings, market
basket analyses to gauge sales patterns and purchasing trends, and
relationship analyses to examine membership and renewal trends.
Quixtar's data warehouse consolidates data from disparate sources,
including AS/400-based source systems. Data is also received from
several countries, with data reported in local currencies. The
MicroStrategy platform mitigates those complexities, providing a
common basis for analysis, both ad hoc and standardized. The software
had to be accessible to beginners, but powerful enough to support the
requirements of advanced users.?

?Quixtar Gains Insight With MicroStrategy Business Intelligence Platform?
http://www.dmreview.com/article_sub.cfm?articleId=7022 


?Quixtar IBOs affiliate with the website and generate new business for
the company and its partner stores, which include OfficeMax.com,
Hickory Farms, Ocean Essentials, Paul Fredrick, and Hardware.com. IBOs
are rewarded for their business-building success through bonuses
earned on the volume they generate at Quixtar and other linked sites.
(Nutrilite nutrition and wellness products are "number one with a
bullet" on Quixtar's list of top sellers.)?

?Using business-management plans outlined in the site's Virtual Office
section, Quixtar IBOs sign up other IBOs. They also recruit new
members (preferred customers who can buy products at special prices
and earn "Q-Credits" that can be redeemed for gifts or airline miles)
and new clients, who pay no fee to shop and have goods shipped
directly to their homes. (Both members and clients must have an IBO
number to shop with Quixtar; for those who don't know an IBO in their
area, Quixtar will make a referral.)?

?Nothing but Net?
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m3514/4_47/64833662/p1/article.jhtml 


--------------------------
Quixtar and Britt Worldwide Financial Performance:

Here are some of the business data you requested including

Quixtar:

?Health-and-beauty products retailer Quixtar.com compiled $683 million
in sales last year, up 26% from $541 million in 2002, the company
reports. To keep sales robust, it?s now overhauling the look and feel
of its site with improved navigation, easier checkout and more
prominent product displays.?

?In an effort to tie its overall merchandising strategy closer to its
Internet operations, Quixtar, a subsidiary of Alticor Inc., which also
owns Amway, will begin phasing in the new look beginning this summer,
says Claire Zevalkink, the company?s vice president of marketing.?

?Quixtar.com?s annual sales rise 26%?
http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=11603 


- ?Internet Retailer ranks Quixtar 5th among retailing e-commerce
sites based on the average usage days per visitor per month and 3rd
for the average minutes spent at the site per visitor per month
(behind eBay and PeoplePC.com).?

?Quixtar reports record sales of $10 million, shattering previous
record day by 27 percent.?

?Quixtar Statistics?
http://www.ethnicarts.org/quixtarstatistics/ 

?Quixtar is a Multi-Level-Marketing (MLM) opportunity. It is promoted
by Alticor, formerly Amway. In 2001 Quixtar replaced the North
American Amway business opportunity.?
 
?Both Alticor and Quixtar reported increased sales for 2003 over 2002.
Total sales are still off from the 1997 peak. Alticor's 2003 North
American MLM sales at Quixtar were $1,035 million, increasing 15% from
2002. Quixtar's North American sales are still just 86% of Amway's
North American sales in 1999. Quixtar's sales from Partner Stores
increased 2% from 2002, and are still off 18% from their debut peak in
2000.?

?In 2002, one half million IBOs shared in the $282 million in bonuses,
for a gross average pay-out of just $564 per IBO, up from Quixtar's
first year gross average pay-out of $360. Despite record pay-outs,
Quixtar reported in their October 2003 SA4400 that the typical IBO
earned $115/month; the same as for the previous three years. Quixtar
did not report how many IBOs shared in the 2003 $343 million pay-out.
In the 1979 Amway FTC case it was reported that, 360,000 distributor
earned $60 million from Amway ($166/distributor) in 1976. Despite
today's expanded product line, catalog products, ditto delivery and
partner stores, the inflation adjusted 2002 gross pay-out per Quixtar
IBO in 2002 was 16% lower than that of Amway distributors in 1976.?


Notable Notes: Here are some of the answers to your questions about figures.

- ?There were 722,000 IBOs instead of the 500,000 reported. ($901
million/$104/month)?
- ?67.7% of IBOs who registered in 2001, did not renew in 2002?
- ?The average IBO had just 0.23 members and clients registered?
- ?Only 18.4% of IBOs registered even one person?
- ?The average IBO had $104/month in sales?

?Quixtar Amway Business Analysis?
http://www.amquix.info/amway.html 


Our next link presents, in table form, figures for Britt Worldwide.
The article provides criticisms about Britt Worldwide but basing on
the figures, you can make your own conclusions as well.

?Analysis of Quixtar Statistics?
http://www.amquix.info/amway_statistics.html 


------------------------------
Finally I will provide you with links to different articles and blogs
writing about their perceptions and ?experiences? about Quixtar. Some
will favor Quixtar while others view them as a scam. Please be
reminded that these are personal opinions and you should take them
with the proper discernment.

?Quixtar's $11 Million Dollar Day!?
http://forum.richdad.com/forums/tm.asp?m=306703&appid=&p=&mpage=1&key=&tmode=&smode=&s=#306703

?Quixtar Reference Pages?
http://www.iboedge.com/quixlinks/qreference.html 

?The Truth about Amway and Electronic Commerce?
http://www.angelfire.com/ky/xamway/ebiz.html 

?News About Quixtar/ Amway's 'E-Commerce' Internet Strategy?
http://www.cocs.com/jhoagland/ecom.html 

?Have you heard about Quixtar??
http://www.marketproshows.com/articles/PCBytes/quixtar.asp 

Article About Britt Worldwide (Found below the page)
http://crazykelvin.virtualave.net/wklythght/nov02/1926.html 

?Explanation of The Work & System Income from a Britt Distributor?
http://www.ex-cult.org/Groups/Amway/otherside/tosp37.htm 

Mad Rants ? (Featuring links to personal articles in favor or against Quixtar)
http://www.friendlynet.com/jessesikes/madrants/quixtar.html 

Quixtar Amway Business Analysis
http://www.amquix.info/ 

Quixtar Blog
http://www.webraw.com/quixtar/archives/2004_03.php

MLM Survivor
http://www.mlmsurvivor.com/enteramquix.htm 

MLM Blog
http://mlmblog.typepad.com/blog/2003/12/the_facts_about.html 


Search terms used:
Quixtar "Britt Worldwide" profile revenues 2004

I hope these links would help you in your research. Before rating this
answer, please ask for a clarification if you have a question or if
you would need further information.
                 
Thanks for visiting us.                
                 
Regards,                 
Easterangel-ga                 
Google Answers Researcher

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Request for Answer Clarification by touch0ph-ga on 01 May 2004 16:10 PDT

Thank you for a very good overview of Quixtar, however, were you able
to find anything on Britt WorldWide?  It is mentioned in a few places
but nothing that would really answer "What is this company and what do
they do?".  If I have overlooked one of the links, please let me know.
 If you could find a few artiles or some business information, I'd
appreciate that.  Other than that, top notch work!

---

Clarification of Answer by easterangel-ga on 01 May 2004 23:24 PDT

Thanks for coming back quickly!

A link I provided above actually described what Britt Worldwide does
and its relationship with Quixtar. I will provide some qoutes here.

" The company is called BRITT WORLD WIDE. Started by Mr. and Mrs.
Britt some odd years ago."

"Rob went on to say how in $16.5 Billion was spent on advertising by
dot com companies in 2000. Where BWW does not spend a penny on
advertising, its just passed on by word-of-mouth. He then started
talking a little about franchising. Using the example of McDonald's,
there are more than 32,000 franchises worldwide. Each franchise is
independantly owned and Corporate McDonald's only keeps 4% of the
stores' profits and gives 96% to the franchise owner. Coming to the
conclusion that Corporate McDonald's makes more money in the end
because it's 4% of 32,000 franchises as opposed to 96% of one
location. That's what BRITT wants to do with all of us in the room who
were present. They want us all to open up our own "franchise" of
selling goods and services via their website."

In terms of hierarchies of companies, here is the figure from the website.

Britt Worldwide - Top Tier Company
    - Offline Catalogues
    - Quixtar (Online Catalogues)

The three customer types for Britt Worldwide will be the following:

1. CLIENTS
2. MEMBER
3. INDEPENDANT BUSINESS OWNERS 

"The Independant Business Owner (IBO) is the most profitable to the
company because they are the one's trying to recruit more and more
people to join the company... For every IBO an IBO gets, that one will
get a small percentage of residual income from anything that person
sold. So the more IBO's you make join, the more money you make --
hence the whole presentation."

This is actually a typicla MLM (Multi-level Marketing set-up)

Article About Britt Worldwide (Found below the page)
http://crazykelvin.virtualave.net/wklythght/nov02/1926.html 


Another article I also posted about Britt Worldwide meanwhile has some
financial figures.

?Analysis of Quixtar Statistics?
http://www.amquix.info/amway_statistics.html 


Unlike Quixtar, there isn't much news about Britt Worldwide so the
resources out there is very limited. I really hope that these articles
were helpful.

Thanks!

This information has been very valuable to me and will help in near
future decisions.

Thanks touch0ph-ga for the kind words, the 5 stars and for the tip! :)