Tupperware Hopes to Boost Sales
RHONDA SCHAFFLER, HOST: Ahead on BUSINESS UNUSUAL, it's plastic, but you can roast in it. It burps, but it's far from being rude. And for five decades, Tupperware has been locking in consumers while locking in the freshness. One entrepreneur proves that you're able to accomplish whatever you put your mind to. And it could make you a millionaire. And if you think there's something fishy about nanotechnology, you're right. How these salmon may mark the beginning of the end for silicon and semiconductors, all just ahead on BUSINESS UNUSUAL. Welcome to BUSINESS UNUSUAL. I'm Rhonda Schaffler. Remember Tupperware? An estimated 90 percent of U.S. homes contain a piece of the famous plastic with the airtight seal. Tupperware had $1 billion in sales last year, 85 percent outside the U.S. Yet with all that, Tupperware has seen hard times recently. Now as Laura Raleigh (ph) reports, the company is trying to find new ways to boost sales at home without spoiling the traditional Tupperware party.</s>LAURA RALEIGH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Tupperware sales pitch, 1953.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tupperware, made of material of the future, will not chip or crack or break.</s>RALEIGH: The Tupperware sales pitch 2000.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is this not gorgeous?</s>RALEIGH: The patented plastic is an enduring American icon, hot enough to attract the devotion of a top New York chef.</s>KERRY HEFFERNAN, EXECUTIVE CHEF, ELEVEN MADISON PARK: And it's really incredible because it's a kind of a plastic I guess, you can actually roast in it.</s>RALEIGH: And cool enough to merit an episode of "Seinfeld."</s>MICHAEL RICHARDS, ACTOR: I knew this was going to happen. I just made a delicious casserole. But now it won't keep because I have no Tupperware.</s>JERRY SEINFELD, ACTOR: What about a plastic bag?</s>RICHARDS: You must be kidding.</s>SEINFELD: What is the difference?</s>RICHARDS: The patented burp, Jerry. It locks in freshness.</s>RALEIGH: Since 1951, Tupperware has sold that burp exclusively through independent sellers and the famous Tupperware party. (</s>BEGIN VIDEO CLIP UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Walk it around with your thumb. The extra little bit of bowl that's left over, snap it into place. And of course, vacuum seal it.</s>RALEIGH: Most Tupperware is still sold at parties. But these days, you'll also find the colorful containers in the mall. It's being sold on the Internet.</s>SUE FERRERA, HOME SHOPPING HOST: Here it is, the world's largest Tupperware party.</s>RALEIGH: And in 1999, the company that practically invented home shopping began selling on the Home Shopping Network. Tupperware is determined to update its methods. But it risks alienating its legendary party throwers. A million independent dealers sold $1 billion of product through parties last year. These reps are Tupperware's only sales force. They're also the ones who recruit new sellers, providing the engine for growth.</s>ROMMEL DIONISIO, FRIEDMAN, BILLINGS, RAMSEY: If you look over the last 10 to 20 years, I think particularly in developed markets like the United States and western Europe, that party plan method has not worked quite as well recently simply because of the rise of the duel-income household. Women simply don't have the time or the inclination to attend Tupperware parties anymore.</s>RICK GOINGS, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, TUPPERWARE: We knew we had an issue with getting enhanced access to get this brand - our vision was Tupperware everywhere. But we had our partnership. And we say, "How do we do this with our partners in mind?"</s>RALEIGH: Here's how. Make them part of the process. The kiosks, for example, are leased and operated by the sales force.</s>TINA MARIE ENGEL, DIAMOND CROWN MANAGER, TUPPERWARE: Being at the mall actually gives us an opportunity to reach more people. Surprisingly enough, people come up to the mall and say, "Do you still do Tupperware parties?"</s>RALEIGH: Home Shopping appearances feature local dealers. And leads generated by the program go to the sales force. On the Internet, 10 percent of unassigned sales are doled out to the reps. And if a customer enters a specific dealer's pin number, she gets 20 percent of the sale.</s>GOINGS: We are not investing money sending people to our site. We are investing our money working with our sales organization getting them to get people to come to their site. This is the very core of viral marketing.</s>RALEIGH: Viral marketing, better known as word of mouth, has been at the core of Tupperware's strategy almost from the beginning. During World War II, New England inventor Earl Tupper made plastic parts for gas masks. Along the way, he devised spill-proof polyethylene containers that kept food from drying out in the refrigerator. Tupper had made the world safe for leftovers. But the product flopped in retail stores. Consumers didn't understand you had to make it burp.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tupperware, in order to be fully appreciated must be demonstrated.</s>RALEIGH: So he called in one of his top direct sellers, a divorced mother from Detroit named Brownie Weiss (ph). She perfected the home party. Tupper put her in charge of sales in abandoned retail stores.</s>ALISON CLARKE, AUTHOR, "TUPPERWARE: Brownie Weiss was ingenious. She knew how to get the product into homes and how to create a whole social network that supported the product. And she was the first woman to appear on the front cover of "Business Week" in 1954 with the slogan, "If we build the people, they'll build the business."</s>RALEIGH: Weiss was the original Martha Stewart promoting the ideal of the perfect housewife running the perfect part-time business. She crafted a unique culture that gave women a rare opportunity for both money and recognition. But by the late 1970s, the magic was fading. The company lost big when a new type of plastic for the microwave cracked and chipped. Cheaper rivals came along. And women moved into the workforce in droves. Half the business is now in Western Europe. And growth is focused on Eastern Europe, Asia, and South America.</s>GOINGS: There are limited earning opportunities for women. That's why, by the way, I think that business has been so well received in places like Indonesia, China, India. We're the first entrepreneurial opportunity for women.</s>RALEIGH: The company is trying to rebuild the U.S. workforce by appealing to women and some men who are tired of 80-hour workweeks.</s>ENGEL: Tupperware has afforded me the time to be a stay-at-home mom, take my two twins that were premature and had certain difficulties at birth, and be a stay-at-home mom and be there every step of the way.</s>RALEIGH: Tina Marie Engel, a registered nurse who used to run a cardiac surgical unit, joined the company six years ago. She now works around her kids' schedules and has doubled her income. She's also a top recruiter, sharing the Tupperware magic with others.</s>ENGEL: Tupperware gives me the opportunity to change lives one family at a time. You can live the lifestyle that you've always dreamed of with Tupperware.</s>RALEIGH: For BUSINESS UNUSUAL, Laura Raleigh, CNN Financial News, New York.</s>SCHAFFLER: And who wants to be an e-millionaire? There are no lifelines in this latest television sensation. But we'll show you how the game is played next on BUSINESS UNUSUAL.