BREAKING NEWSTupperware to officially shut down in Australia after declaring bankruptcy
Tupperware is set to shut down its Australian operations, leaving hundreds of sales staff and warehouse workers unemployed just before Christmas.
Tupperware is set to shut down its Australian operations, leaving hundreds of sales staff and warehouse workers unemployed just before Christmas.
It comes after the struggling brand was purchased by a group of lenders after filing for bankruptcy earlier this year.
Party Products bought the global rights to the Tupperware brand name, related intellectual property, and its operations in core markets last week.
Party Products said it will initially focus on operating Tupperware in certain core markets, which include the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, China, Korea, India and Malaysia.
However, Australian staff have been told the new owners are not proceeding with the brand Down Under.
Weve been told the new owners that have purchased Tupperware global are not proceeding with Tupperware in Australia, a Tupperware Australia worker told 2GB host Ben Fordham.
Theyre only keeping eight countries open out of 70 and unfortunately Australia is not one of them.
Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Professor Gary Mortimer, a business and retail expert at the Queensland University of Technology, said the company has failed to innovate or appeal to younger customers.
He explained that fewer people are home than in the 1960s, and with women working outside of the home, there is less appeal for Tupperware parties, the traditional method of sale where consultants would come to a hosts house to sell the range to friends and neighbours.
Over the years, the direct sales model has generally suffered with the rise of e-commerce, and demographic changes that have seen smaller household sizes and the convenience of individual meals which mean people are cooking in bulk less.
Tupperware is over 75 years old as a brand. It grew in the 50s, 60s, and 70s through product innovation and creating innovative solutions for kitchenware, Professor Mortimer explained.
But today, there are significant ranges of competing products in the marketplace, and there is only so much innovation you can take in food storage.
He said due to the durability of the product, meaning many Aussies held onto their Tupperware for years.
Tupperware has seen its market dominance threatened by competition from other popular brands including Rubbermaid, Glad, Pyrex and Oxo
Part of the issue is the durability and life expectancy of the product itself, he said.
Its positioned as a high-quality product, not the type of thing youd regularly buy every year or so. Im sure theres many kitchens are around Australia with a couple of pieces of Tupperware in it.
He said that people tend to cook less for big groups and instead opt for easy delivery options, meaning there is less demand for storage containers.
Australian bureau of statistics data shows that were having smaller families too, and were more likely to be living in smaller households, which means less batch cooking, Professor Mortimer said.
People dont make big meals anymore and store them, and opt for more convivence around single serve portion control meals and consume it throw packaging away.
Professor Mortimer added that the consumers the brand first attracted in the 1960s and 1970s are now in their eighties and nineties, with the brand not resonating in the same way with others.
He explained that the brand doesnt advertise on TV or social media, and customer wont spot it in stores meaning its not reaching younger audiences, while similar products are popular on the shelves of supermarkets like Coles and Woolworths, which people tend to opt for instead.
When it started out, it was supported through a party plan business model, and it worked really well through network selling.
But now, mums and dads are at work, party plan business model has decreased. Mums arent at home anymore, theyre working.