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Tupperware: Achieving sustainable development goals through elevating

socio-economic status of women in India

Article in Competitiveness Review An International Business Journal incorporating Journal of Global Competitiveness · July 2013
DOI: 10.1108/CR-04-2013-0042

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18 Int. J. Business Performance Management, Vol. 13, No. 1, 2012

Tupperware: achieving sustainable development

goals through elevating socio-economic status of
women in India

Harjit Singh* and Nikunj Aggarwal

Department of Management,
Galgotia University,
Knowledge Park-II, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
E-mail: harjit_mfc@[Link]
E-mail: aggarwal.nikunj75@[Link]
*Corresponding author

Abstract: It has been two decades since India embarked on an ambitious

programme on uplifting women’s socio economic status. Over the last decade,
many of its benefits have manifested themselves and one of the areas where
growth is clearly visible is direct selling. Direct selling in India, today is
considered as a sunrise industry after agriculture with almost all the big players
eyeing for a big share of the coveted pie. The paper focuses on the role of
Tupperware Corporation in the socio-economic development of women. What
difficulties Tupperware faced while entering into India and the strategies
adopted by it to establish itself in the country. The paper further stresses on
how the company changed its marketing strategies to suit the needs of Indian
consumers and become one of the leading direct selling companies of India
with its 100% female sales force.

Keywords: direct selling; women empowerment; socio-economic status;

Tupperware Brands Corporation; business performance; India.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Singh, H. and

Aggarwal, N. (2012) ‘Tupperware: achieving sustainable development goals
through elevating socio-economic status of women in India’, Int. J. Business
Performance Management, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp.18–27.

Biographical notes: Harjit Singh is a faculty at the Department of

Management, Galgotia University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh (India). He
has authored two text books and several study material books for the
universities of repute on various fields of management. His teaching and
research activities include financial management, business environment, retail
management, branding, and sales and distribution management. He is regular
contributor to national and international journals. His publications have
appeared in American Journal of Economics and Business Administration,
Management Review and others.

Nikunj Aggarwal is an Assistant Professor and Controller Examination at

Institute of Management Education, Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, India. She is a
regular contributor to national and international journals. Her teaching and
research areas include financial management, business statistics, corporate
restructuring through mergers and acquisitions, and general management
issues.

Copyright © 2012 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

 Tupperware: achieving sustainable development goals 19

1 Introduction

The socio-economic status of women in India has been subject to number of changes over
the past few decades. From equal status with men in ancient times through the low points
of the medieval period, to the promotion of equal rights by many reformers, the history of
women in India has been eventful (Jayapalan, 2001). In modern India, women have
adorned high positions and contribute to the economy in one form or another, much of
their work is not recognised or documented for in official statistics. Women plow fields
and harvest crops while working on farms, women weave and make handicrafts while
working in household industries, women sell agricultural products, food and gather wood
while working in the informal sector (Anderson, 2002). Additionally, women are
traditionally responsible for the daily household chores (e.g., cooking, fetching water,
washing clothes, and looking after children). Since Indian culture hinders women’s
access to jobs in stores, factories and the public sector, the informal sector is particularly
important for women. There are estimates that over 90% of working women are involved
in the informal sector such as direct selling. Direct selling enterprises like Tupperware
Corporation not only raise their sense of self-worth but provide an excellent business
template that offers a meaningful earning opportunity for them. Many millions of people
of all nationalities are now enjoying the benefits of this method compared to the
traditional way of selling through retail stores.
Clarke argues that the organisational culture of the Tupperware can be seen as
feminist, in that they are supportive of women (Clarke, 1999). In India, around 60% of
sales persons are women and around 250–300 product categories are sold in the country
through direct selling (Sanker, 2007). The distributors are actually independent
contractors who buy the product wholesale from the company and make a commission.
They also earn a commission on the sales of dealers they recruit, providing an incentive
to expand the sales force. This system allows Tupperware to avoid directly employing
people and thus paying those benefits. The sellers buy their own demonstration kits. The
hostesses provide the location of the party and further subsidise sales by providing food.
The hostesses, of course, also provide the customers (Rose, 1999).
Tupperware Corporation and later Tupperware Brands have replicated this model
several times, increasing sales while helping women learn skills, create networks, and
share information. Since the early 1990s, there has been rapid expansion into developing
countries where women often face steep educational and cultural barriers to employment.
Today, in India alone, the company’s 100% female sales force is more than 50,000 and
still growing. Recognising the opportunity, hundreds of Indian women saw an
opportunity in the Tupperware and transformed themselves into a successful
businesswoman.

2 About Tupperware Corporation

Tupperware Brands Corporation, supplying kitchen storage and cooking containers in

more than 100 countries, is a multinational direct marketing company. It is based in
Orlando, Florida and started operations in 1946. In partnership with sales consultants
worldwide, Tupperware reaches consumers through informative and entertaining home
parties, special customer contact programs in malls and retail environment and other
convenient venues. Tupperware brands is a family of eight leading brands that offers
20 H. Singh and N. Aggarwal

rewarding business opportunities to all women with a dream and desire to become
successful while working from home. The ultimate success can be attributed to the high-
quality products with lifetime warranty and the rewarding business opportunities
provided by the company. Tupperware has all-women network of 1.9 million sales force
and 80 distributors. Every year the number of these women are recognised and rewarded
for their significant achievements in selling these world class products.
Today Tupperware is not just a company but a social revolution that is deploying its
assets to improve the socio-economic status of women in emerging markets. Tupperware
is replicating that model overseas, and driving social change in emerging markets around
the world (World Bank, 2010). Tupperware pioneered the direct marketing strategy made
famous by the party plan. The Tupperware party allowed the women to work and enjoy
the benefits of earning an income without completely taking away the independence
granted to women during the Second World War when women first began entering the
labour market, all the while keeping their focus in the domestic domain (Vincent, 2003).
The emergence of Tupperware on the US market created a new sort of opportunity to an
entirely underrepresented labour demographic; women, and especially suburban
housewives, which subsequently facilitated the calls for equal rights between men and
women in the workplace.
Tupperware aims at enriching the lifestyles of its consumers. The entire Tupperware
range of products provides a one-stop solution for all food storage, food preparation,
microwave, lunch ‘n’ outdoors, refrigeration and serving requirements as well as a
special range for kids. Tupperware products are made from 100% food grade virgin
plastic, they are stylish and elegant, light-weight, non-toxic, and odour-less and come in
beautiful soothing colours which can compliment and brighten up every Indian home and
kitchen. The USP of Tupperware product lies in its special airtight and liquid tight seals,
which locks in freshness and flavour.

3 Tupperware in India

Tupperware entered India in November 1996 and started its operations from New Delhi
with a focus on kitchenware and plastic products useful in three areas – food storage,
food serving, and food preparation. In the first year of its inception in India, it appointed
15 distributors by directly recruiting candidates and training them, through a specially
designed 14-week training program in Delhi and Mumbai. Today Tupperware India sells
around 200 products and has been growing steadily over the last decade.
The company has a plant at Dehradun, where it makes products for the domestic
market. Considering the orthodox Indian culture, company had to sell both the direct
selling concept and its plan (Badenhausen, 1996). It was not easy for the company to
convince Indian women to come out of their houses and sell something in so called man
dominated society. Tupperware in India faced lot more challenges than their counterparts
in the other parts of the world. In India men do not share on most of the household
chores, it is women who have to cook, clean the house, do the dishes, wash clothes, get
their children ready for school etc. Men are just concerned with few tasks that are to be
dealt outside the house. So the major burden of running the family is on the shoulders of
women. In India women education never got its due share of attention. Further, in India
violence against women is a common evil. Not just in remote parts but in cities also
women bear the brunt. They are subjected to physical and mental violence. They are the
 Tupperware: achieving sustainable development goals 21

one who work most but are not given their due. Women still have to make a lot of
sacrifices in every area of their lives. Even the most educated of men feel that a woman
should not work after marriage (even though she may be interested in her career) just to
pander to his male-ego. Despite the difficulties and traditional gender role expectations,
Tupperware ultimately was convinced to make inroads to public life because women are
often naturally skilled at negotiating, delegating, and multi-tasking, they can fight
through these challenges to success.
Today, Tupperware is present in 59 cities across India. The company, however, does
not disclose its revenues from the India operations. Tupperware plans to foray into the
rural market within the next two-three years although its immediate focus is to increase
urban penetration. Though brand awareness of Tupperware in major metros like Delhi
and Mumbai is around 80%, however, when it comes to actual product usage it is very
low less than one third of brand awareness.
As part of the plan to appeal the Indians, the company is currently focusing on water
and dry storage categories. It has recently introduced its water storage range, which is
designed for refrigerator use. Besides, the company also recently tied up with Big Bazaar
(Leading Indian Retailer) for its promotional activities and as part of its effort to establish
access points for customers. According to Indian financial report 2009, Tupperware India
performed better than most of the other foreign direct selling companies in India.
Analysts believe this was because it was focused on achieving its targets both in terms of
sales as well as segments. The company was growth driven and pushed the direct selling
method well. Tupperware India aimed at becoming the no. 1 direct selling company in
India, by 2015.

4 Strategies, trends and opportunities

Tupperware has scripted a remarkable success story in India by smartly adapting its
business model for the world’s second most-populated nation. Though a direct selling
company, Tupperware adopted a three-tier network structure which made operations
easier for the company. Today, this three-tier network structure is one of the fastest
growing methods of sales in the world. Millions of people of all nationalities are now
enjoying the benefits of this method compared to the traditional way of selling through
retail stores. This method of selling offers advantages for both the customers as well as
people looking for an earning opportunity. In direct selling whether one wants to work
part time or take this opportunity as a full-time career is entirely up to the individual
(Vincent, 2003). Either ways, one can decide one’s working hours and one can remain
one’s own boss. Across the globe, the range of the products being sold through direct
selling is growing manifold. According to Vincent (2003) 29% of industry’s revenue
came from home care products and 25% from cosmetics sold by different direct selling
enterprises.
Biggart (1989) provides one of the rare academic analyses of Tupperware, discussing
how it works as a network direct-selling organisation. Most typically, Tupperware is sold
directly to the consumer, rather than to stores that then do the work of retailing. There are
nested pyramids of dealers and distributors. The distributors are actually independent
contractors who buy the product wholesale from the company and make a commission.
They also earn a commission on the sales of dealers they recruit, providing an incentive
to expand the sales force. This system allows Tupperware to avoid directly employing
22 H. Singh and N. Aggarwal

people and thus paying those benefits. Few selling costs are borne by the company. The
sellers buy their own demonstration kits. The hostesses provide the location of the party
and further subsidise sales by providing food. The hostesses, of course, also provide the
customers.
Contrary to sole contractual relationship, Tupperware depends on social bonding. The
association between the distributor and the dealers is close. There are weekly, fortnightly,
monthly meetings, emphasising the successes the dealers have had. It has been argued
that home party sales organisations use techniques similar to those of religious revivals to
help control their independent sales force (Peven, 1968). In the USA, the weekly
meetings are ritualised with singing the Tupperware song (Collins, 1997); however, this
practice is not common in India, China and Canada.
Clarke (1999) argues that the organisation and ethos of the company can be seen as
feminist, in that they are supportive of women. Biggart (1989) agrees that it provides for
upward mobility, allows women to organise their time around other obligations and has a
nurturing, rather than a competitive, bureaucratic structure. Tupperware helps women in
their domestic budget in two ways: by helping to keep food fresh so that less is wasted,
and by constituting a possible source of income thus solving both financial and personal
identity woes (Seccombe, 1986). The company relies on sales consultants – mainly
women – to sell wares directly to consumers through a party plan approach. The
consultants arrange social parties at their homes, or in the homes of willing customers,
where in addition to games and entertainment they demonstrate and sell the company’s
products. Consultants are paid through commission on their sales: they are independent
business women and not Tupperware Brands employees. Party hostesses are rewarded
with gifts from the consultants. Meanwhile, guests enjoy an opportunity to network with
other women and possibly buy items of interest, without having to go to a store
(Wedemeyer, 1975).
Tupperware basically depends on women’s sociability for its sales strategy, as it
revolves around a specific domestic construction of women in its marketing. In India,
Tupperware design teams have noted chefs on board. The design teams create products
suitable for Indian Kitchen, e.g., spices containers and multi-cook that can be used for
cooking, steaming, straining, reheating as well as serving. Having established its brand
Tupperware is now looking at additional distributional channels such as shopping malls.
Health is an important key issue that Tupperware Brands addresses via product
demonstrations, company meetings, and literature. In India, where the company’s
positioning message is ‘wealth of wellness’, the teams are able to focus on many hygiene
and nutrition matters, from water purification, to healthy microwave cooking and
children’s diet issues. Consequently, Indian women have become de facto health and
nutrition consultants sharing a powerful message that helps families live better.
As consumers, women have been adaptive to pay attention to style and price.
Tupperware is careful to present itself as stylish, as well as effective. Tupperware
products carried a life time guarantee. Any damaged product (cracks or breaks) could be
replaced by same/similar new Tupperware product from any place in the world. The
company is proud to note that its products have been on display at museums such as New
York’s Museum of Modern Art (http:/[Link]). It is a ‘consumer’
product in that marketing strategies encourage buyers to get the trendy colour or item that
is in this catalogue, but may not be in the next. Clarke (1999) describes how the notion of
women as consumers of modernism dovetailed with Tupperware’s marketing strategies.
 Tupperware: achieving sustainable development goals 23

The Tupperware story is a tradition in the USA, the model continues to replicate and
adapt with success, particularly in developing countries. Though most of the company
revenue (85%) comes from outside the USA, nearly 50% comes from emerging markets,
including India, Argentina, Russia, Egypt, Turkey, Indonesia, and South Africa. In India
alone, with the 100% female sales force the company’s sales growth in local currency
grew by 45% in the year ending 2010.

5 Tupperware’s contribution in enhancing women’s socio-economic status

Tupperware Corporation has replicated its business network model again and again,
empowering women while helping women learn selling skills, create networks, and share
information to help their relatives, known and society. Since the early 1990s, in
particular, there has been speedy expansion into developing countries like India where
women often face steep educational and cultural barriers to employment. Company
officials admit that when they first started out in 1996, there were both ideological
resistance and practical obstacles to women’s taking work outside the home. The lack of
commodified services available to replace their domestic work meant women had to
super exploit themselves or rely on informal arrangements with family and friends.
The emergence of Tupperware on the Indian market created a new kind of
opportunity to an entirely underrepresented labour demographic; women, and especially
suburban housewives, which subsequently facilitated the calls for equal rights between
men and women in the workplace. Tupperware created a ‘chain of confidence’ through
which women selling the company’s products bond together in friendship and help each
other “feel confident about themselves and in their ability to succeed”. The chain of
confidence is a campaign which reflects Tupperware’s commitment towards making a
difference and changing one life every week through enlightening, educating and
empowering women across various walks of life. The campaign provides an opportunity
to young girls and women all across the globe. It creates means for the housewife to
maintain her obligations in the domestic sphere of the household while creating an
independence from the home in a sociable atmosphere (Side, 1999).
History reveals that despite the difficulties, women’s participation in the work force
drastically increased. Women came out of their homes and started selling products to
women through their homes or friendship networks without having conflict with their
homemaker role (Frankenberg, 1997). They could make money; they could become part
of a business operation. The impact on women extends beyond the improved
circumstances and confidence of the sales consultants. A critical part of the ‘meaningful
earning opportunity’ that Tupperware Brands promotes is basic networking and
information-sharing among women. This not only supports product sales but also gets to
the heart of home and family matters. There is an obvious societal change that we are
engineering to empower women to become confident – by offering them financial
independence, self esteem, exposure, and a secure future for them and their families.
When Tupperware entered to India, company expected it would be limited to the
upper class with surplus incomes. But contrary to expectations it has penetrated the small
towns and built a base among the middle and lower middle class as well. This may has
something to do with its mission of empowering women and the sense of release that its
sale force experiences (Sharma, 2003). In India, full-time consultants can earn at least as
much as a teacher or nurse. Some are really quite well off while most of others prefer to
24 H. Singh and N. Aggarwal

work part-time. Each woman has the opportunity to attain ‘manager’ status, with
increased commission levels and an expectation that they will recruit, train, and motivate
a new team.

6 Lessons learned

Direct marketing is an essential part of not just the Indian marketing format but also the
world economy. In view of the increasing competition the marketers are facing, it is
imperative for them to resort to social marketing strategies. Tupperware’s success seems
to be more than a reflection of current fashion, though; its ideological and strategic
liminality between home and work must also be a factor. In this view, rather than being a
liability, the company’s continued insistence on domestic femininity is the key to its
financial resilience (Leonardo, 1987). While once this image might have constituted a
non-threatening first step into the business world, now it can provide working women
with a step back into the family. As long as women continue to be responsible for the
domestic sphere at the same time as they need to engage in income earning,
Tupperware’s fusion of the two will have practical and ideological salience. Clarke
(1999) suggests that Tupperware has been used by women as a cash generator, solving
their economic problems while giving the domestic sphere value. Therefore, inspite of
traditional gender role exceptions and attitudes, Indian women are coming up in a big
way.
Tupperware which has ideally been a household word for generations today has
become an integral part of the classic suburban lifestyles in the most of the urban parts of
the world. Enabling women to help themselves through direct selling enterprises raises
their sense of self-worth and has social, economic and community benefits. One is that
the expertise and experience are usually perpetuated and passed on to others making them
successful as well.
In many of the emerging markets of the world like India, there are very limited
earning opportunities for women. Either there are no opportunities for them or they’re
under-employed. Tupperware provides an opportunity to start their own business. In
India, where an average teacher makes $2,500 per year, the average Tupperware sales
manager there makes $20,000 a year while the average distributor can make $40,000 to
$80,000 a year. This is not small money. It’s a serious opportunity and true example of
women’s economic empowerment without destroying domesticity. Following are the
main lessons:
• Women’s economic empowerment can be a strong, differentiating and flexible brand
element for certain consumer product sales and Tupperware is not an exception.
• Business initiatives focused on women can succeed when they rely on the personal
information networks that women already build among themselves.
• Women’s economic empowerment can be a strong, differentiating and flexible brand
element for certain consumer product sales.
• One size does not fit all. Products, initiatives, marketing strategies should be adapted
to local tastes and needs. The best way to do this: listen to and trust local teams
 Tupperware: achieving sustainable development goals 25

• When women are engaged as employees and consumers, then corporate social
responsibility (CSR) and community engagement are important motivational factors.
Strategic alliances with Proctor & Gamble, Whirlpool, and the International Chef’s
Forum enabled Tupperware to promote the brand and spark interest in products.
Tupperware is gaining fast recognition in the Indian market. Its ‘party plan’ worked well
because it fitted in the urban and semi urban culture of ‘kitty party. By August 2010, the
company expanded its operations in 22 states in the country. Except steel manufacturers,
company as such didn’t face any direct competition from plastic wares in India.
Company’s product range and after sales service is satisfactory and reasonable.

7 Results and discussion

India is witnessing diverse changes in marketing and sales of consumer goods. Direct
selling is one of the fastest growing methods of sales in the business world. Not only the
developed countries but developing and third world countries are also enjoying the
benefits of this method as compared to any other method of direct selling including retail.
Tupperware’s contribution is not an exception to this. The name ‘Tupperware’ today is
synonymous in many languages with the idea of convenient, durable, sealable, plastic
food container. Tupperware is driving positive changes in women’s lives through its
business strategies and philanthropic programs. Tupperware business is aligning to
enlighten, educate, and empower women and girls. Offering educational opportunities
and building confident and accomplished young women are social investments that
guarantee powerful returns for generations to come, and build a legacy of caring for
tomorrow’s next generation’s children.
Tupperware Corporation has modified with the times and country specific
requirements. Like in India, it has to take the support of media (both print and electronic)
for reaching to masses. Consequently, in many countries, consultants are now similar to
franchisees, with their own websites, shopping mall kiosks, and creative event planning
businesses. Online training from ‘Tupperware University’ is also available to them,
offering information and tips in many of areas of interest, such as food safety,
environmental issues and sustainable living, community involvement, health and
nutrition, and of course, business tips and management techniques.
Another credible observation is that women’s economic empowerment is a core brand
element that is, and always will be, good for the business (Grover and Grover, 2002). It is
a differentiating factor for Tupperware Brands in both developed and developing
markets. It is also a flexible concept that can adjust to different cultural situations given
the localised nature of the company’s business model and corporate management
(World Bank, 2009).
Listening to and paying due attention to local teams is an important lesson. Women
not only remain its major sales force but the consumers of the company’s products too.
The company did not face any major competition from other plastic wares in India, as the
quality of Tupperware goods was much better. However, Tupperware India faced intense
competition from manufacturers of steel containers as Indian consumers used steel
containers to store and carry food.
Lastly, the company has learned that its very business model and the fact of women’s
interest in their own communities mean that CSR and community engagement cannot be
26 H. Singh and N. Aggarwal

an afterthought. They are an integral part of Tupperware Brands’ motivational strategy

for consultants and consumers alike.

8 Conclusions

India today is at the realm of a paradigm shift in its growth and its position in the world.
Both men and women must act decisively to grasp this opportunity. India needs to think
big and scale up rapidly in each and every area, be it education, infrastructure, industry,
financial services or direct selling by both genders. For around two centuries, social
reformers and missionaries in India have endeavoured to bring women out of confines in
which traditions had kept them. Consequently, women’s economic empowerment process
has begun and witnessing a steady improvement in the enrolment of women in all spheres
of life including business. It is worth commenting that their economic independence is
better as compared to earlier decades. Involvement of women in direct selling enterprises
like Tupperware has been on the rise. In the modern scenario with rising aspirations of
people and increasing prices, it’s a good career opportunity for women as compared to
other jobs. Though a direct selling company, differed from other direct selling companies
offers advantages for both the customers as well as housewives looking for an earning
opportunity. The role played by Tupperware brands for uplifting the socio-economic
status of women in India and provide them the sense of entrepreneurship presents
win-win scenario for the business, women, and community as a whole. Indeed, that is
Tupperware’s direct selling success story and undoubtedly good for business, women and
development everywhere.
This paper forwards the idea that empowering women entrepreneurs is indispensable
for achieving the goals of sustainable development and the bottlenecks hindering their
growth must be eradicated to ensure wider participation in the business. Apart from
overcoming gender barriers, training programs, trade fairs, exhibitions, online manuals
and mentoring can also play vital role in enhanced socio-economic status. The expected
outcomes of the direct selling business are quickly achieved and more of remunerative
business opportunities are found.
Henceforth, promoting entrepreneurship among women is certainly an easy and fast
method to rapid economic growth and development. This paper invites academic
scholars, academicians, practicing managers and general public to think seriously about
what kind of world we are looking for and the repercussions of our current actions in the
future. Only need is to eliminate all forms of gender discrimination and allowing
‘women’ to be a part of emerging entrepreneurial opportunities at par with men without
sacrificing domesticity.

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