Twenty or thirty dollars a piece! Why is cheap toothpaste hard to get on supermarket shelves?
【People's Livelihood Survey Bureau】
Editor's note:
This is the People's Livelihood Investigation Bureau, which has never been seen before and investigates the changes in people's livelihood. Pay attention to what you want to follow, what you don't follow, investigate what you want to see and what you don't see.
Chinanews.com, October 30 (Zhongxin Financial Reporter Xie Yiguan) In life, toothpaste is a necessity, but recently many people have found that the toothpaste sold in supermarkets is getting more and more expensive. "I remember that in the past, toothpaste was only ten or twenty yuan at the most expensive, and now toothpaste is generally twenty or thirty yuan." Some consumers complained.
Why did the two- and three-dollar toothpaste disappear?
It is easy to find toothpaste for twenty or thirty yuan, and toothpaste for less than ten yuan is hard to find
Regarding the rising price of toothpaste, Xiao Ni, a consumer who recently went to the supermarket to shop, has a deep experience.
"Looking at it, most of them are twenty or thirty yuan toothpaste, the better ones are thirty or forty yuan, and the cheapest Crest salt white toothpaste also costs 6.9 yuan, the price is too outrageous."
As Xiao Ni said, recently, the new financial reporter visited a number of supermarkets, the price of toothpaste is generally more than 10 yuan, of which, the range of 15 yuan to 40 yuan is more concentrated, and the price of a few brands of toothpaste such as Shuda can reach more than 40 yuan, and there are only two or three models below 10 yuan.
This is also consistent with the data from iiMedia Research's offline survey. Its previous research showed that among the forty or fifty kinds of toothpaste sold in large supermarkets, the price of a toothpaste was between 10 and 20 yuan, and the proportion of more than 20 yuan was 35%, and there were only two or three below 10 yuan.
There is a wide range of toothpaste in the supermarket. Photo by Chinanews reporter Xie Yiguan
In addition to low-cost toothpaste disappearing from supermarket shelves, many consumers have also found that the price of some toothpaste is doubling.
"This cold acid spirit anti-allergy toothpaste is now sold for 7.58 yuan, I remember that it only cost two or three yuan, and the Chinese toothpaste that used to cost a few yuan is now sold for 20 yuan after being 'upgraded'." Xiao Ni mentioned.
According to the Huaxi Securities Research Report, the average price data of ordinary toothpaste of about 120 grams released by the National Development and Reform Commission shows that its price has increased from 8.38 yuan/box on June 30, 2015 to 10.61 yuan/box on February 28, 2021, and the overall price of the industry has shown an upward trend. This also proves that the price increase of toothpaste is not "felt".
Why is toothpaste more expensive?
Once dozens of yuan of toothpaste, known as the "Hermes" of the toothpaste industry, now the toothpaste industry per capita "Hermes", what causes the toothpaste to sell more and more expensive?
A lot of people may think about the cost factor. From the perspective of national standards, toothpaste is mainly composed of friction agents, moisturizers, thickeners, foaming agents, fragrances, water and other additives. Although the corresponding active ingredients are added based on different efficacy, the production cost of raw materials is relatively low according to the published data.
According to the prospectus of Dengkang Dentistry, which owns brands such as Lengshuling, from 2019 to 2021, the unit cost of the company's adult toothpaste was 1.53 yuan, 1.47 yuan and 1.50 yuan respectively.
Screenshot from Dengkang Dental Prospectus.
Although the unit cost remained stable, its sales unit price increased year after year, driving the gross profit margin to increase year by year.
In this regard, Dengkang Dental said that the company grasps the trend of consumption upgrading, conforms to the development direction of diversified toothpaste demand and high-end products, continuously develops and upgrades on the basis of existing products, and continuously expands its market share in mid-to-high-end adult toothpaste, and the unit price of product sales has increased year by year.
Dengkang's words also unveiled the tip of the iceberg of the collective "momentum" of toothpaste brands.
In recent years, toothpaste companies have been "obsessed" with product upgrades, adding enzymes, probiotics, hyaluronic acid, amino acids and other ingredients to promote whitening, anti-allergies, anti-sugar, fresh breath and other effects, and even refine the use scenarios, on the one hand, to meet consumers' needs for toothpaste functionality, on the other hand, because there are huge profit margins behind various "gimmicks".
The toothpaste market has always been in a highly competitive situation. Once the domestic toothpaste market was occupied by two-sided needles, cold acid spirit, etc., and later the influx of foreign-funded enterprises, under the "conquering the city", the industry once started a price war, coupled with the rise in raw material prices, the gross profit margin continued to decline. The sudden rise of functional toothpastes such as Yunnan Baiyao has allowed the industry to find a "wealth code".
As a result, toothpaste companies have stopped production of traditional toothpaste that does not make money, and began to focus on functional toothpaste, and the price of functional toothpaste far exceeds the previous traditional toothpaste, so that many toothpaste manufacturers launch a new effect every once in a while, and then raise the price by the way. In this case, it becomes a natural trend for toothpaste to become more expensive. Jiang Han, a senior researcher at Pangu Think Tank, believes.
Under the continuous "upgrading" of products, it is necessary to spend a lot of effort on marketing, and invite celebrities from all walks of life to endorse. Judging from the research reports of listed companies in the toothpaste category, the sales expenses of toothpaste have been rising. Ultimately, these marketing costs will also need to be "paid" by consumers.
Is cheap toothpaste still available?
During the reporter's visit to the supermarket, a male customer was buying toothpaste, and after looking at the price, he chose the one he liked between the two lowest-priced toothpastes. At the same time, the reporter noticed that a special Shuke baking soda toothpaste priced at 10 yuan in a supermarket in Beijing was sold to only one left.
Demand for low-cost toothpaste remains strong. Nowadays, the price of toothpaste for dozens of yuan also makes many netizens nostalgic for the days when they used to buy a toothpaste for two or three yuan. Where did the once cheap toothpaste go?
The reporter searched online and found that domestic old toothpastes such as Baiyu and Tianqi are still on sale, and the price of a single toothpaste is mostly less than 10 yuan; A high-selling Crest strong root toothpaste, the price is only 4.5 yuan. In addition, some non-well-known brands of toothpaste are also cheaper.
People who live in hotels often find that toothpastes such as double-sided needles that we are familiar with frequently appear in hotel disposables. But these low-priced products are hard to get on supermarket shelves.
Jiang Han said that for most supermarkets, the cost of each shelf is basically fixed, and the cost of selling various toothpaste products is about the same. Therefore, toothpaste with a higher profit level is often more attractive to supermarket sales, and more and more supermarkets tend to sell high-priced toothpaste.
Xiao Ni once mentioned that low-cost toothpaste is mostly displayed on the lower floors of the shelves. This is also consistent with what reporters observed in some supermarkets.
Crest salt-white toothpaste is displayed on the bottom of the shelf. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
With the increasing "efficacy" of toothpaste, the publicity is becoming more and more "cosmetic", and the industry supervision is also improving.
The Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Toothpaste issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation this year clearly stipulate that toothpaste shall be subject to record management, and the toothpaste filing person shall be responsible for the quality, safety and efficacy claims of toothpaste. In the eyes of the industry, after the implementation of the "Measures", it may be able to promote the efficacy of a variety of toothpastes to "reduce the fire". (ENDS)