Richmont Direct Review and Profile

Richmont Direct no longer appears to be active as a direct sales company.

Original Npros business profile for Richmont Direct, preserved below for archival purposes:

Richmont Direct was founded in 2002 as a home-party and direct-sales company affiliated with Dallas businessman John P. Rochon and Richmont Holdings. Rochon, who previously served as chairman and chief executive officer of Mary Kay, was identified as Richmont Direct's founder and chairman. The company operated from the Dallasâ€"Plano area and assembled several distinct merchandise collections that independent Presenters could offer through home demonstrations, catalogs and personal customer relationships.

Richmont Direct's product lines included World of Cooking kitchen and entertaining products; Feelings of Christmas ornaments, decorations and seasonal gifts; Ross-Simons jewelry, gifts and collectibles; and Richmont Creations personalized photo products described as "living art." The Ross-Simons collection was added on October 1, 2003. For its Christmas merchandise, Richmont employed Wayne Maness, a former House of Lloyd product marketing manager who had helped select and create products for the company's Christmas Around the World catalog. Richmont Direct did not acquire House of Lloyd itself, but it used Maness's experience to position Feelings of Christmas as an alternative for former Christmas Around the World customers and representatives.

Independent sellers were called Presenters. Contemporary direct-sales materials stated that Presenters earned a 30% commission on personal sales, together with a 5% monthly bonus, and could qualify for merchandise and travel incentives. The company promoted the opportunity as a flexible, family-based enterprise in which Presenters provided personalized service to friends, relatives and local customers. The available compensation information emphasizes retail commissions and bonuses but does not document an extensive multilevel rank structure or provide an earnings disclosure showing typical Presenter income.

Richmont Direct was operating in the United States and Canada during the mid-2000s, but normal sales activity ended by the close of that decade.