Clever Container

Clever Container started in 2006. Karen Eschebach was working as a professional organizer, and she and her friend Jennifer Weaver were both stay-at-home moms. The idea came at a direct sales party hosted by another friend; the old Direct Sales Aid profile says it was a Pampered Chef party.

“We thought, why couldn’t we do that with organizing products.”

Karen Eschebach, co-founder and president — Metromode, October 2014

The founders, including Karen Eschebach, started small. According to the old Direct Sales Aid profile, they stored stock in their basements and sold at trade shows, school fairs and church sales before adding home parties in early 2007. The company won the 2011 StartupNation Leading Moms in Business competition and was featured on Good Morning America's Deals and Steals. In October 2014, Metromode reported that the St. Clair Shores, Michigan company employed about a dozen people beyond its two founders, was creating its own product line, and had reached $2 million in sales in 2013.

By 2018 Clever Container Company LLC listed its address as 800 Church Street in Lake Zurich, Illinois, and told prospective Consultants it had fewer than 5,000 sellers and that sales had doubled the year before.

Clever Container sold storage and organizing products for the whole house, usually in coordinated prints such as pink and teal medallions or black geometric patterns.

• Closet: hanging shelves, over-the-door shoe and jewelry organizers, space-saving hangers, belt, tie and scarf hangers.
• Kitchen and pantry: Clever Fresh vacuum-seal canisters, insulated carriers, lunch totes and pantry organizers.
• Laundry and bath: collapsible hampers and under-sink caddies.
• Office: file boxes, desk organizers and magnetic storage.
• On the go: car organizers, travel packing cubes and the Clever Shopper, Stuff ’N Go and Pop ’N Pack bags.

Prices stayed modest. A March 2013 feature in The Roundup put the range at $5 to $66, with products for vehicles, kitchens, laundry rooms, closets, offices, kids' rooms and even pets.

Sellers were called Consultants. They held in-home and online organizing parties, sold from a printed catalog, and worked vendor events. Orders shipped to the host or straight to customers, so Consultants did not carry inventory, and hosts earned free and half-price products.

Starter Kit

In 2012 the kit cost $149 plus tax and $25 shipping, for about $350 of products and supplies. By 2018 there were three options: a Business Builder Kit for $99 (valued at $320) and a Clever Essentials Kit in pink or teal for $49 (valued at $120). Each held best sellers such as the Clever Shopper, Stuff ’N Go and Pop ’N Pack Bag, plus 25 catalogs, 50 order forms and marketing materials. Consultants also paid a $4.95 monthly technology fee.

Pay

In 2012 the company advertised a base commission of 20 to 33 percent. By 2018 it described a lower rate on a new Consultant's first $1,000 in sales and a higher rate after that, with bonuses for monthly sales goals and extra earnings for building a team. A Ready-Set-Organize program gave free products to new Consultants who sold $600 or more in a month. Top sellers earned trips to places such as Playa del Carmen, Miami Beach and the Caribbean, and weekly training calls supported the field.

The Consultant program ended in early 2019. The company's Illinois website still advertised starter kits and a Consultant login in late 2018. By June 2019 clevercontainer.com had become a direct online store, where the only “Join” link led to a customer rewards program and there was no way to become a Consultant. Late in 2019 the store was renamed Clever Organizing Solutions, and clevercontainer.com began redirecting to cleverorganizingsolutions.com. The company did not publish a reason for the change.

Clever Organizing Solutions kept selling closet, kitchen, laundry, office and travel organizers online. By 2023 its only seller option was a link-based affiliate program through Shopify Collabs and Refersion, which paid about 20 percent on referred sales and had no kit or team structure. By December 2024 the store had been switched to a password-protected “On Vacation” page, and it has not reopened. Both web addresses have since passed to unrelated owners: clevercontainer.com is listed for sale by a domain broker, and cleverorganizingsolutions.com now hosts an unrelated gambling site.