For direct-selling giant Amway Co., China is fast becoming its most lucrative overseas market, far surpassing sales in the massive yet troublesome Japanese market.
After some 10 years of operations, Amway's annual sales in China are nearing 200 billion, yen or almost twice those in Japan and even those in the United States, where the company was founded, and are likely to reach the 300 billion yen mark in the foreseeable future.
"You only have to look at China and at how many people there are there to get an idea of what the future looks like," said Steve Van Andel, chairman of Amway's parent company Alticor Inc., headquartered in Ada, Mich.