Avon was strictly an American phenomenon, and a unique and pioneering one at that. The first Avon Lady was actually a man, young door-to-door salesman David McConnell from upstate New York. He launched Avon Calling in 1886, offering women cosmetics in the comfort and privacy of their own homes.

But perfumes and hand-cream were not McConnell's initial merchandise. At the age of sixteen, McConnell had begun selling books door-to-door. When his fare was not well received, he resorted to the then-popular advertising Gimmick of offering a free introductory gift in exchange for being allowed to make a sales pitch. A complimentary vial of perfume, he thought, would be an ideal entree, and he blended the original scent himself, with the aid of a local pharmacist.

Fate stepped in. McConnell learned that women adored his perfume and remained indifferent to his books. Thus, he abandoned books and organized the New York-based California Perfume Company, named in honor of a friend and investor from California. The door-to-door approach seemed tailor-made for cosmetics, particularly in rural areas, where homemakers, in horse-and-buggy days, had poor access to better stores.

The first female Avon Lady was Mrs. P. F. E. Albee, a widow from Winchester, New Hampshire.

She began her chime-ringing career selling the company s popular Little Dot Perfume Set, and she recruited other women, training them as door-to-door salespeople.  The company was re-christened Avon for the simple reason that the New York State town in which David McConnell lived, Suffern on the Ramapo, reminded him of Shakespeare?s Stratford-on-Avon.

By 1887, McConnell had twelve women employees selling a line of eighteen fragrances. And the numbers kept growing and growing. In 1939, California Perfume Company name changed to Avon Products, Inc.  Today, despite the scores of expensive, prestigious American and foreign brand-name cosmetics, Avon ranks first in sales nationwide, with Avon Ladies ringing doorbells from coast to coast.