John S. Chamberlin said he resigned last...

John S. Chamberlin said he resigned last week as president of Avon Products Inc. because the company had begun cutting back its non-beauty products units in favor of its direct sales business.

Analysts had Chamberlin as a likely successor to Hicks B. Waldron, 64, who said he plans to retire next year as chairman and chief executive.

But the 59-year-old Chamberlin said in a telephone interview from his Princeton home, “One of the reasons I left Avon was because the direct-selling business wasn’t one that really gave me a lot of satisfaction.”

Chamberlin joined Avon three years ago when the company’s direct-selling business was ailing because of difficulties in recruiting sales people. At the time, the company began to diversify.

Since then, however, Avon has been trimming its non-beauty units such as chemical and health subsidiaries, company divisions Chamberlin said he “supported, encouraged and planned.”

Succeeding Chamberlin as president and chief operating officer is James E. Preston, 54, who headed the beauty products division for seven years and has been with Avon for 24 years.