Retail Merchandiser

With consumers looking to cut costs across the board, it should come as no surprise that visiting the dentist—already not a popular pastime—looks even less attractive now. But that doesn’t mean American consumers are ignoring their mouths.

US retail sales of oral care products for consumer use grew 3% to $9 billion in 2008. Take a look at these statistics to see where at-home dental hygiene trends are going.

• What’s ahead: It’s estimated that the oral care market will break the $10.9 billion mark by 2014.

• Growing Up: Most people brush their teeth, and many chew oral care gum or gargle mouthwash. The use of these products equates to an oral care market that is mature, not necessarily stimulated by clever innovations, positioning, advertising, and promotion.

• Lighten Up: While fads such as $5 electric toothbrushes and dissolvable breath strips grew popular quickly, they faded just as fast. One trend that’s become a mainstay is the addition of whitening agents in oral care products, which most consumers assume their oral care products have.

• The dental preps category accounted for 43% to 45% of US retail dollar sales of all oral care products between 2004 and 2008.

• Smell You Later: Breath control products had 34% of oral care sales in 2008.

• The Retail Avenue: In 2008, mass retail channels accounted for about three-quarters of retail dollars in the oral care market overall.

• Lessons Learned: Baby boomers have taught subsequent generations that health equals beauty. Translated into recession-proof oral care, and you’ll see more consumers buying up mainstream toothpaste, mouthwash, and manual brushes that perform well and are multifunctional.

• Natural/Organic oral care products will not continue to increase at double-digit rates during the toughest months of the 2009 recession. In fact, the high cost of these products is expected to slow the category’s retail dollar growth to under 10%.

• Slow it down: Between 2007 and 2008, 157 new SKUs in the tooth cleaner segment were rolled out. Innovation fatigue is a consumer reality, but with less disposable income, consumers are paying more attention to product claims and reading labels more carefully.

—Packaged Facts US Market for Oral Care Products Report, 7th Edition