Outside Factors

By the 1980's, Mary Kay had reached it's peak. Despite the strong attempts of the Mary Kay marketing plan, the environment was not solely needing Mary Kay. There were many other companies that were managing similar and had products that competed with Mary Kay (Camerius 5).

Some of the dominating companies were Avon, Revlon Inc., and Cover Girl. These retail companies were larger than Mary Kay and had more resources than Mary Kay did. By the 1980's the company was having a hard time reeling in more customers and consultants. The majority of the users were constant. The industry was suffering.

During this decade, there were laws put into place that affected the cosmetic industry. The FDA started monitoring what was put into the makeup and how it was distributed.The laws in the Federal Trade Commission were also changing (Camerius 7).

Despite these outside factors influencing the success of the company, the Mary Kay corporation did not give up.