<\/p>\n
Images By Tang Ming Tung via Getty Images<\/p>\n
High-end household goods are selling better than bargain items, Procter & Gamble and Colgate-Palmolive say. <\/p>\n
Procter & Gamble and Colgate-Palmolive leaders said consumers are buying more high-end household staples, while sales of bargain brands cool.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Both companies plan to navigate this environment by leaning into product innovations\u2014upgrades that tend to accompany price increases.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Some companies are struggling to sell basic household goods\u2014but consumers are snatching up high-end toothpaste and hair-care products.<\/p>\n
Procter & Gamble (PG) is rolling out \u201cinnovations,\u201d or upgrades, across its entire portfolio\u2013from budget brands to high-end alternatives, and increasing prices as the company navigates tariffs and rising costs, CFO Andre Schulten said on a conference call last month. So far, the strategy is working\u2014at least for the higher-end market, according to the maker of Pampers diapers, Tide detergent and Charmin toilet paper.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn some channels, we see the majority of growth in our categories in the premium end, not in the value end of the lineup,\u201d Schulten said, according to a transcript made available from AlphaSense.<\/p>\n
Colgate-Palmolive (CL) CEO Noel Wallace gave a similar assessment of the domestic market for household staples on a conference call last week. The company behind Colgate toothpaste, Speed Stick deodorant and Ajax cleaners is also adopting an innovation-heavy strategy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe still see the premium and the super-premium [segments] growing very, very nicely,” in the industry, Wallace said, according to a transcript. “It’s the value-oriented brands, or SKUs<\/a>, or segment, as well as the mid-price segment, that seems to be suffering.”<\/p>\n High-end household goods are outperforming bargain brands, and this may be an indication that consumers are trading up, Procter & Gamble CFO Andre Schulten said. Budget items may also be struggling because low and middle-income households are stretching their current supply and buying store brands.<\/p>\n Anemic job growth<\/a> and concerns about inflation<\/a> are weighing on consumers<\/a>, particularly low- and middle-income households. That isn\u2019t translating into a focus on \u201caffordability,\u201d Schulten said, but on “value.”<\/p>\n \u201cWe continue to see consumers trade up,” he said.<\/p>\n Sales of bargain brands remained sluggish, despite companies competing for customers by rolling back prices, ramping up promotions and issuing coupons<\/a>, the companies said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen some volume slowdown in the categories in which we compete,\u201d Wallace said. \u201cAll of the retailers and all the competitors are looking for solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n The contrast in demand for bargain and premium items has become a common theme for consumer companies. The frothy stock market and appreciation in home values has helped wealthier Americans feel comfortable paying up for things like international flights<\/a> and saving on some items to splurge elsewhere<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Images By Tang Ming Tung via Getty Images High-end household goods are selling better than bargain items, Procter…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":353705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[66545,64,172883,172882,16041,79,172884,66543,65897,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-353704","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-andre-schulten","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-colgate-toothpaste","11":"tag-colgate-palmolive","12":"tag-consumers","13":"tag-economy","14":"tag-household-goods","15":"tag-price-increases","16":"tag-procter-gamble","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115488428066349133","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}