By Colleen Volheim, HRG category research and analysis manager, and Megan Moyer, HRG corporate marketing manager
As noted in previous blog posts in this series, new items can draw interest based on new ingredients, scents or flavors, forms, or packaging.
Oral Care product launches have been shifting toward multi-packs as new items enter the market; however, this packaging style is typically used to promote new items and thus has a short timeline in the market as illustrated in the chart below. Toothpaste multipacks generally offer quantity discounts to incentivize consumers, offering value to the savings-minded shopper for a high-volume, daily-use product.
Honing in on an ingredient trend, the use of charcoal across HBW categories has steadily increased. This article for Chain Drug Review includes a chart that shows the various categories where new products containing charcoal have launched from 2004-2022, including hair care, health supports, deodorants, shaving & grooming, foot care, and oral care.
The use of charcoal in oral care brings new interest and attracts shoppers to the category. This ingredient is advertised to remove stains from teeth due to its high absorption capabilities. Additionally, it is also said to rid the mouth of bacteria and toxins. Charcoal launches in oral care have a unique quality in that the ingredient is found in five product classifications, thus reaching a broader range of consumers.
Charcoal as an ingredient within oral care product launches started in 2018 and has increased steadily each year. This chart illustrates new item launches 2017-2022. The trend has continued into Q1 of 2022.
Charcoal is an ingredient which has been applied in a wide variety of products and has been in a growing number of new item launches for multiple years. There have been fewer new products introduced in 2022, but it will nevertheless be interesting to see how charcoal will be applied in new products across categories.
Source: HRG’s Tri-PAC™ Data, HRG’s New Item Data and IRI Chain Drug data ended 8/31/22