Going head to head in the laundry room

Abstract

In 2005, the consumer products giant Colgate-Palmolive left the North American laundry detergent business by selling products such as Fab and Dynamo to Phoenix Brands. Three years later, another consumer goods powerhouse, Unilever, sold its U.S. detergents lineup, including All and Wisk, to Sun Products. The sales of the businesses to two smaller, privately owned companies left Procter & Gamble virtually unchallenged in the premium segment of the U.S. laundry detergent market. P&G, interestingly, did not declare victory. Indeed, in 2014, P&G’s then-chief executive officer, Alan G. Lafley, lamented Unilever’s exit. He said it hollowed out the middle of the detergents market, pitting P&G, with products mostly at the high end, against three competitors with low-tier offerings. A marketer of well-known brands such as Tide and Gain, P&G commanded almost 60% of the U.S. laundry detergent business, but it was a stagnating business with a dangerous price gap between the