Post by max23 on May 12, 2020 11:07:07 GMT -5
Tampax tampons dominate the market, but whether this will continue in the future is discussed in a long article in The Guardian:
"When it comes to tampons, Tampax [owned by the multinational consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble] is the undisputed overlord, with a 29% global market share. (P&G’s nearest rival in the sector, Johnson & Johnson, still has less than 20%.) Last year, more than 4.5bn boxes of Tampax were bought worldwide.
Over the past few years, according to market researchers Euromonitor, the global consumption of tampons has been in steady decline – from a high of 17bn boxes in 2007, down to 15.9bn in 2018. Melissa Suk, the associate brand director of Tampax, lists five factors that have contributed to this drop-off:
1) Period cessation.
2) Abundance of options.
3) Education of the form (sic). (In other words, women having misconceptions about tampons.)
4) Concern over ingredients.
5) Concern over sustainability. ('Probably the lowest,'noted Suk.)
Never mind about 3, 4 and 5 for the moment. In No 1, Tampax is facing perhaps its greatest existential threat – the growing number of women choosing not to have periods at all. Last year, the faculty of sexual and reproductive healthcare of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists issued an updated guideline, stating that there was no health benefit to taking a week-long break from the pill to have a sort of faux-period. Women simply no longer need to shed blood if they don’t want to.
[Period startups have multiplied] selling products ranging from organic cotton tampons (Lola, Cora, Flo) to absorbent pants (Thinx, Modibodi) to a reusable applicator (Dame). All proclaim their high ethical standards. Flo gives 5% of its profits to women’s charities, Freda partners with Bloody Good Period, and Dame says it is 'the only period brand to be climate positive', offsetting twice the carbon it produces. The founders do these things for their own sake, but also because they’ve read the research: consumers, especially younger ones, increasingly want to buy brands that come with a side of values, a wrapping of morality.
Tampax [has] updated its products... [launching] its first organic cotton tampon [in 2019] and, in the US only, its first menstrual cup in 2018. 'At Tampax we didn’t invent the menstrual cup, we just want to perfect it,' was the marketing line, in cute acknowledgement of its lateness to the party, given that cups were first invented in the 1930s."
The rest of the article details the history of Tampax tampons, and how small manufacturers are trying to break Tampax’s domination of the market.
While it’s interesting that small manufacturers are taking on Tampax, I wonder if they’ll ever capture any more than a minor share of the market. In Australia, Tampax and other big multinational brands of tampons are available in most stores – from the biggest supermarkets down to suburban convenience stores. That dominance is going to be hard to break.
www.theguardian.com/society/2020/feb/11/tampon-wars-the-battle-to-overthrow-the-tampax-empire
The article also refers to a Tampax ad that features Courteney Cox before she starred as Monica in Friends. The ad was made in 1985, and according to Monica, using a tampon can make you feel "cleaner"(??): www.youtube.com/watch?v=koYcUw4Ddkg
"When it comes to tampons, Tampax [owned by the multinational consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble] is the undisputed overlord, with a 29% global market share. (P&G’s nearest rival in the sector, Johnson & Johnson, still has less than 20%.) Last year, more than 4.5bn boxes of Tampax were bought worldwide.
Over the past few years, according to market researchers Euromonitor, the global consumption of tampons has been in steady decline – from a high of 17bn boxes in 2007, down to 15.9bn in 2018. Melissa Suk, the associate brand director of Tampax, lists five factors that have contributed to this drop-off:
1) Period cessation.
2) Abundance of options.
3) Education of the form (sic). (In other words, women having misconceptions about tampons.)
4) Concern over ingredients.
5) Concern over sustainability. ('Probably the lowest,'noted Suk.)
Never mind about 3, 4 and 5 for the moment. In No 1, Tampax is facing perhaps its greatest existential threat – the growing number of women choosing not to have periods at all. Last year, the faculty of sexual and reproductive healthcare of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists issued an updated guideline, stating that there was no health benefit to taking a week-long break from the pill to have a sort of faux-period. Women simply no longer need to shed blood if they don’t want to.
[Period startups have multiplied] selling products ranging from organic cotton tampons (Lola, Cora, Flo) to absorbent pants (Thinx, Modibodi) to a reusable applicator (Dame). All proclaim their high ethical standards. Flo gives 5% of its profits to women’s charities, Freda partners with Bloody Good Period, and Dame says it is 'the only period brand to be climate positive', offsetting twice the carbon it produces. The founders do these things for their own sake, but also because they’ve read the research: consumers, especially younger ones, increasingly want to buy brands that come with a side of values, a wrapping of morality.
Tampax [has] updated its products... [launching] its first organic cotton tampon [in 2019] and, in the US only, its first menstrual cup in 2018. 'At Tampax we didn’t invent the menstrual cup, we just want to perfect it,' was the marketing line, in cute acknowledgement of its lateness to the party, given that cups were first invented in the 1930s."
The rest of the article details the history of Tampax tampons, and how small manufacturers are trying to break Tampax’s domination of the market.
While it’s interesting that small manufacturers are taking on Tampax, I wonder if they’ll ever capture any more than a minor share of the market. In Australia, Tampax and other big multinational brands of tampons are available in most stores – from the biggest supermarkets down to suburban convenience stores. That dominance is going to be hard to break.
www.theguardian.com/society/2020/feb/11/tampon-wars-the-battle-to-overthrow-the-tampax-empire
The article also refers to a Tampax ad that features Courteney Cox before she starred as Monica in Friends. The ad was made in 1985, and according to Monica, using a tampon can make you feel "cleaner"(??): www.youtube.com/watch?v=koYcUw4Ddkg
