Eric Hunter, left, with colleague Jason Duong at last year’s Mega Group Convention in Vancouver
AVB Marketing’s Eric Hunter never backs down from a challenge
By Janet Weyandt, YSN
Would you buy lipstick from this man?
Eric Hunter, AVB Marketing’s vice president of marketing, doesn’t look like the kind of guy who would have ever sold Avon products, but looks can be deceiving. And Hunter is not a man who shrugs off good opportunities.
“I used to go to beauty salons and drop the Avon book,” he said. “It was like fish in a barrel — women getting their hair done. I’ve been a hustler my whole life. I do what needs to be done.”
Hunter, 35, is a big man (getting smaller every day!) with a big personality and a quick smile. He started at AVB Marketing five years ago as a senior e-commerce manager, quickly taking on management of the catalog team. In that role, he managed digital teams including e-commerce, SEO and copywriting, as well as building out the catalog for Canadian members.
After that, he moved to AVB Marketing as GM of marketing products, where he focused on ad operations, analytics and digital strategy. In his new role, he’s concentrating on B2B relationships with members and vendors and driving online performance.
Wide-Ranging Resume
In between Avon and AVB, Hunter had a host of jobs, including stints at Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. and online home improvement retailer Build.com. There’s not a lot of overlap, except for one thing: Hunter’s attitude about them.
“I just have always been willing to do whatever job needs to be done,” he said. “I don’t necessarily turn down a challenge. Catalog was a challenge, same with analytics.”
The current challenge? “Driving online performance and also helping put more cars in parking lots for members’ stores,” he said.
Hunter is proud of the work the marketing team does, especially how they rose to the challenge during the pandemic and created a website platform for members that is second to none.
“Obviously, COVID showed the importance of digital commerce and the need to be digital first,” he said. “I’m proud of our team and all the efforts we made to make our websites what they are today.”
Hail HUB
The other initiative that’s had the biggest impact, he said, is HUB.
“It will help our members sell more and sell better at the end of the day,” he said. “Those are my top two. I honestly think they will and have had the best, most meaningful impact on our members.”
And there are new developments all the time, including Price Netter, a tool that stacks promotional offers, which was unveiled at Convention in August.
Grant Hancock, GM of digital success, joined AVB the same time as Hunter and is his partner in the group’s digital growth.
“Eric and I have worked very closely together since joining the organization, although we’ve led and supported different teams throughout the past five years,” Hancock said. “We’re consistently challenging each other to find new solutions or improve on existing ones so we can help our members increase their revenue and improve their profitability while saving them time.”
Family Man
When he’s not spearheading new marketing initiatives, he’s working on improving his work-life balance and being a husband to wife Ryanne and dad to son Beau, 3, and year-old daughter Rory.

In addition to e-bike rides and trips to the park, Hunter likes to golf (“I’m not good at it, but I enjoy it mostly for anger management.”) He also is working hard on his health. He underwent a gastric sleeve procedure last year and has lost more than 100 pounds.
“I’ve worked so hard on my career, I needed to take a step back and work hard on the personal,” he said. “Get a better balance between the health and professional acumen. I’ve been really focused on that, making better decisions every day.”
In the meantime, Hunter is busy with new initiatives and helping to improve the working environment for his AVB colleagues, including being a founding member of the employee Culture Committee.
“I’m excited to be here, to keep growing with our members, keep growing with our team members,” he said. “To see where we’re at and have an outlook where we’re going — the future is very bright.”
YSN publisher AVB BrandSource is the nation’s largest merchandising and marketing co-op for independent appliance, mattress, furniture and CE dealers.