Natura closed its São Paulo store and sold via women consultants, reaching R$40bn

Natura began in 1969 as a small cosmetics shop on Rua Oscar Freire in São Paulo, founded by Luiz Seabra (with Jean-Pierre Berjeaut). A single boutique could never reach a continental country with thin retail infrastructure, so in the mid-1970s the company did the opposite of the obvious: it closed the store and adopted direct sales, delivering products through resellers who bought at a discount and sold to their own circles. Guilherme Leal joined in 1979 and Pedro Passos four years later, completing the trio that built the brand.

The clever part was who the channel was made of. Natura designed the model to empower women in a market with limited employment opportunities, many without formal education or capital. It trained consultants, offered financial-literacy programs and access to micro-credit, turning selling into a path to run one's own business. That built a vast, loyal network of over 1.2 million consultants that functioned as distribution, marketing and brand philosophy ('bem estar bem') at once — no stores, no shelf fees, no mass-media dependence.

The model compounded for decades: an IPO on the Bovespa's governance-focused Novo Mercado in May 2004, then acquisitions of Aesop, The Body Shop and, in 2019, the 133-year-old Avon — making Natura &Co the world leader in direct sales with about 6.3 million consultants and the fourth-largest beauty group by net revenue, a company valued at R$40 billion. The little shop that closed became the buyer of the company that invented door-to-door cosmetics.

Delete the store; make the customer's neighbor the sales channel

Direct sales matched Brazil's reality: no dense retail chains to fight for, but millions of women seeking flexible income.

Consultants sell through trust and relationships, giving a new brand credibility no advertising budget could buy.

Investing in consultants' education and micro-credit cut churn and made the network self-reinforcing.

The female-empowerment mission doubled as a brand story that attracted both sellers and customers.

Fixed costs stayed tiny — the channel scales by recruiting people, not by signing leases.

In a country with weak retail infrastructure and few jobs for women, a direct-sales network turns a distribution cost into a social mission — loyalty, reach and brand story in one.

Natura listed on the Novo Mercado in May 2004, bought Aesop and The Body Shop, then acquired Avon in 2019 — becoming the global leader in direct sales with about 6.3 million consultants and the fourth-largest beauty company in the world by net revenue, valued at roughly R$40 billion.