Beauty Offered On the Internet; Aloette to Sell Cosmetics On Web.

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 23, 1999--

Cosmetics will be entering the world of dot com, being offered through e-commerce over the Internet, when Aloette Cosmetics goes on-line in August.

The site, aloettecosmetics.com, will attempt to capture the lead for direct sales to consumers by using not only its Internet site but also the assistance of its 5,000 beauty consultants who hold in-home presentations to sell Aloette products.

Aloette, a $40 million retail producer of prestige cosmetics, was purchased last year by its largest franchise operator, the Cohens (Christie and Bob), who moved the company from Philadelphia to Atlanta and have revamped and updated its product line to cover the spectrum of the cosmetics marketplace.

"We intend to capture the space on the Internet for cosmetics sales and become the counterpart in cosmetics to Amazon, Dell, e-toys and the other sites that are building momentum with consumers," president and chief operating officer Bob Cohen said when making the announcement. "The fact that we already sell direct, combined with our North American sales force, gives us a real advantage over competitors who have to meet the needs of their retail customers."

"We have spent the past year preparing for this move to the Internet," Bob Cohen continued. "Our skincare and cosmetics are the finest in the business, and our infrastructure to deliver is in place. We will be testing the site in August and up and running full time in September."

Christie Cohen, chairman and chief executive officer, started with Aloette as a beauty consultant at age 19, and she and her husband now own the company.