Proctor & Gamble To Exit 90 to 100 Brands

[launderess]

Looks like Cheer won't be the last P&G brand to go...

P&G will axe '90 to 100 brands' from product lineup

Procter & Gamble, the maker of Pampers diapers, Crest toothpaste and Tide detergent, will shed many of its well-known brands in the coming years in order to cut costs. Which Procter & Gamble brands are on the chopping block?

www.csmonitor.com

 

[danemodsandy]

Ahem!

"Proctor & Gamble To Exit 90 to 100 Brands"

Just couldn't stand the smell any more, eh?

 

[supersuds]

Over the past 10 years or so, P&G has sold quite a few of its brands, including Oxydol and Biz, Jif peanut butter, Duncan Hines cake mixes, and even Crisco. Narrowing their focus makes sense from a business point of view.

It would be nice if somebody would buy brands such as Cheer and Era and relaunch them. A smaller company could still get a useful amount of profit from them.

 

[maytagbear]

Sad for the people who will be laid off.....

however, consumers have realized in this recession that P & G is pricey for what you get. There are other good performers, like Wisk and Finish that are somewhat to a great deal less expensive.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[bajaespuma]

From now on, even the 12 varieties of peanut butter are going to be labeled "Tide".

 

[maytagbear]

Heh

Jif has been a Smucker's product for at least 10 years.

L/Mb

 

[whirlcool]

Everything by P&G will be labeled Tide. You'll have Tide toothpaste, you'll have Tide Cooking Oil, You'll have Tide toilet paper, etc. Product consolidation leads to less choice for consumers.

Can anyone guess as to what products will be the first to go?

 

[launderess]

consumers have realized in this recession that P & G is pric

MaytagBear is right on the money. Wisk and other laundry detergents are just as highly rated or nearly so as Tide by independent sources such as CR. Cascade got schooled during the whole initial ban on phosphates which allowed Finish (the number two brand of automatic dishwasher detergent for decades) to finally become number one. And so it goes.

P&G's woes to some extent are the results of their own efforts. Cheer in particular has been all over the place since the days of "Blue Cheer", to the point no one really knows why they should purchase it over Tide. For colors? Not containing OBAs (which it did or didn't depending upon what type purchased) and so forth.

 

[washabear]

I wonder what P&G will do with its beauty lines? I would think Olay would be a cash cow for the company, but maybe not.

I would be happy to see the fragrance lines go to other companies because P&G doesn't seem to be very good with those. The Gucci fragrances made under P&G are nowhere near as good as what Gucci made before, and P&G hasn't been very good with other fragrance lines either (e.g., Dolce & Gabanna and Rochas, the latter of which had most of its line gutted).

 

[frigilux]

Maybe they'll 86 most of their Tide line while they're at it. The number of variations is ridiculous, especially since most of them are based on scent. And for Christ's sake, enough with the HE/non-HE versions. Most other brands now formulate their liquids for use in either type of machine. And get off my lawn!

 

[arbilab]

Seen this before. Sprawling corporation buying things (peanut butter?) just because they can, irregardless (sic) they make no sense whatsoever to the core competency. In recent memory, outright destroyed Beatrice.

Bought anything from Kraft lately? Once a genuine leader, now products that don't even measure up to store brands and cost way more. Also a corporate basketball; nobody can make it work right.

I'm convinced the root cause of all this incompetence is whatever Harvard Business school has been teaching MBAs for what now, a generation? My experience with MBAs is that when one tries to explain the real world to them, even using their native language of spreadsheets, their eyes roll back in their heads. As if they were already taught everything that could be of any possible value thus are under no obligation to listen to ANYthing.

That modus doesn't even work in the finance sector, for which it is idealized as it bears no relation to reality/quality/integrity/reputation, the parameters which make manufacturing work. So here we are with 'durable goods' that don't last a month, foods that are chronically or acutely toxic, eyelash enhancers that can cause blindness.......

 

[jamiel]

Arbilab, you're being too hard on P&G. They have traditionally had a corporate competence in fats and oils (i.e. Crisco), so it was quite logical for them to branch out into peanut butter, cake mixes or even Pringles. (I'd argue that they had no business being in the citrus juice or coffee business). As tastes change, they spun off those businesses. No argument that they've not been stellar at managing what's left of the business. Olay is definitely one of their keeper brands. High margin; competes globally with their archrival Unilever (Dove). Prestige fragrance--another huh type of product line. They've got a certain insularity in Cincinnati (not unlike the insularity in Detroit) which hampers them.

 

[liamy1]

Thought

Thought this maybe of interest. I love P&G products, but will not use them due to their horrific treatment of animals in the testing process.

http://https//www.pg.com/en_US/downloads/media/Fact_Sheets_BDB.pdf

 

[NYCWriter]

Really?

"consumers have realized in this recession that P & G is pricey for what you get."

I wouldn't have that a few pennies would make THAT much of a difference.

 

[dirtybuck]

Has anyone tasted Folgers lately? It used to be one of my favorites, but now, the taste has become TOTALLY HORRIBLE! I guess maybe they start adding Tide (or even Dawn) to it?

Something else...on the "Leading Brands" sheet, did anyone notice two products missing that helped propel P&G in the earlier years?

 

[supersuds]

From today's WSJ

"Many of the labels P&G is expected to shed are small, though it will hang onto some niche market leaders like Fixodent denture adhesives and Dreft laundry detergent for baby clothes.

'Keep buying Dreft,' Mr. Lafley says.'"

 

[launderess]

I wouldn't have that a few pennies would make THAT much

Well it *DOES* and Tide is more than a "few" pennies difference when compared to other detergents.

Today's WSJ echoes the problem P&G has said or has been said about many of their products since the past recession started; that is they are premium brands and when budgets are tight consumers look elsewhere. Much to P&G's woe more and more products such as laundry and even dishwasher detergents are becoming commoditized.

Years ago housewives usually stuck with one main brand of detergent for say laundry or dishes and that was that. If money became tight they might go down to a "bargain brand" but soon as things picked up they returned to whatever. P&G's problem is that many consumers once having dipped their toes into other pools find there is little difference between the cheaper product and their "favourite" brand.

As one has stated often local Rite Aid store in our area and elsewhere has Tide liquid on sale every other week like clockwork. Years ago that never happened as Tide rarely went on sale. Marketing 101 tells us that when a good or service is offered repeatedly on sale something is going on.

 

[mattl]

Tight money or not I stick with my favorites, Tide, Downy, Cascade, and Dawn. My fl uses so little detergent I see no reasonto skimp. I buy Dawn once ever year or so,buy either the super big bottle or 2 smaller ones. I ran a plastic hOseto the bottle from my sink mounted soap dispenser so it's a once a year or so and done. I only do dishes a few times a week so again, no reason to skimp.

I've tried other brands over the years, but much prefer my usual stuff.

 

[washman]

It could be a good thing

I was never a fan of so called "diversification" anyway. Too many companies have lost focus trying to be all things to all people, not the least of which is WallStreet. WS wants consistent earnings per share, dividends, stock buybacks, gadflies appointed to the board and the like.

What this results in is an organization that is MBA focused and not customer focused.

Remember when US Steel paid 4.5 billion to buy Marathon oil? Wouldn't they have done better in reinvesting that in continuous casters and updated furnaces to better compete with Japan, Inc?

The trend these days seems to be if and when your company starts going pear shaped, don't invest in fixing it, instead buy another company!

Funny how Toyota and Honda both seem to trundle right along, offering products that consumers actually want to buy and I don't read much about either "diversifying" to keep stockholders happy. Crazy as it seems, but they have proven time and time again, by investing in the product, keeping it relevant and customer focused, buyers will flock to your door.

ANd to thing I figured this all out on my own, and I didn't go to Harvard Business School.