Avon Will Sell Line in Stores

Avon Products, the giant cosmetic and fragrance concern known for door-to-door retailing, said Wednesday that it will sell its successful new “Deneuve” line of imported perfume in department stores starting next year.

But company spokesman John Cox said the new marketing technique did not represent a move away from its 100-year-old policy of selling door to door. “Oh boy, no--that’s a $2-billion-a-year business worldwide.”

Introduced in March, the $165-an-ounce fragrance has been sold directly through advertisements in magazines. Avon said its Parfums Phenix subsidiary will offer the line to a group of retailers across the country starting in January and expects to reach 200 to 300 stores by next spring.

Cox declined to say whether other Avon products will be sold in department stores in the near future.

The perfume, produced in France, was developed in conjunction with French film star Catherine Deneuve, who for years successfully sold Chanel perfume. “We want to serve customer segments we don’t reach through direct selling,” Avon Chairman Hicks Waldron said.