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leading direct selling companies. Although
primarily a U.S. business at the time,
Amway
steadily opened its business opportunity to
IBOs (Independent
Business Owners) in other countries,
initially in Canada and Australia, but
eventually also in Europe, South Africa, Asia,
Southeast Asia, the Pacific, the Caribbean, and
the rest of the Americas. In
1999, Amway opened
business on the Internet, starting an
entirely
new “i-commerce”
business model they called
Quixtar.
The
new model
was so successful that
Amway
shifted entirely to that
model in
North America and created a company specifically
to support North American
IBOs and
its specialized business plan, calling it
Quixtar Inc.
At that same time,
Amway
continued as a separate company to support
IBOs in the
rest of the world
and created
Access Business Group
to facilitate the manufacture, warehouse, and
distribution of products worldwide.
Alticor was
created as a parent company to manage the whole
structure.
Alticor has
long maintained strong communications ties with
IBO
organizations, frequently seeking input on
decisions that can affect
IBO
businesses. At first it was as
Amway with
The American Way
Association, then with the
Amway Distributors
Association. Today,
Alticor
continues the dialogue via
Quixtar
with the
IBOAI (Independent
Business Owners Association International).
Alticor’s
world headquarters operates from
Amway’s
original mile-long complex in Ada, Michigan.
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