- Contents
- *Scope and Themes
- What you need to know
- Definition
- Data sources
- Sales data
- Consumer survey data
- Abbreviations and terms
- Abbreviations
- Terms
What you need to know
Total US retail sales for the oral care market are $7 billion. Sales have been growing steadily year-to-year since 2008, and the category grew by 11% during 2008-13. Many of the products in this market, namely toothpaste and toothbrushes, enjoy high household penetration as consumers need to use these products on a daily basis to maintain their oral health and hygiene. In addition, this category benefits from having few to no competitive alternatives. Consumers’ reliance on these products for cleaning and caring for their teeth will be the main driver of continued, steady growth for this market. Mintel expects that sales will continue to grow steadily in the coming years, totaling $7.7 billion in 2018.
Though the category has enjoyed steady, modest growth, more accelerated growth has been tempered by consumers’ cost-savings behaviors when shopping the category and several products already having universal household penetration. To accelerate growth in the coming years, companies should focus their efforts on encouraging consumers to enhance their current oral care routines by adding less commonly used products to their repertoires, such as mouthwash, floss, and brush picks. Companies could also pursue ways to encourage consumers to spend slightly more on products, by continuing to introduce interesting new product flavors or adding new functional benefits.
The key topics of focus for the 2014 report include understanding which oral care products consumers are using most frequently, their decision between name brands versus private label for certain types of oral care products, and what product attributes they consider to be the most important when choosing which oral care products to buy and use. The report also puts a strong emphasis on determining which types of tactics should be employed to drive category growth at a more accelerated pace, such as strategies that can be implemented to encourage consumers to expand their current oral care routines. And finally, this report will also explore consumers’ attitudes toward dentists and children’s healthcare.
This report builds on the analysis presented in Mintel’s Oral Care – US, May 2013 and previous reports with this same title in June 2012, June 2011, July 2010, June 2009, June 2008, January 2006, January 2005, April 2003, and May 2001. It also builds on the Oral Care –The Consumer – US, June 2007 and Oral Care – The Market – US, April 2007 reports.
Definition
Mintel defines the US oral care market as consisting of the following product categories:
Toothpaste
Mouthwash and rinses
Manual and power toothbrushes (battery operated and electric)
Dental floss, dental accessories, and dental tools
Bleaching/whitening kits
Value figures throughout this report are at rsp (retail selling prices) excluding sales tax unless otherwise stated.
Sales data
Market Size and Forecast and Segment Performance – Total retail sales based on Information Resources, Inc. InfoScan Reviews; US Census Bureau, Economic Census
Retail Channels – Based on Information Resources, Inc. InfoScan Reviews; US Census Bureau, Economic Census; Progressive Grocer’s Consumer Expenditures Study; except supermarket and drug store sales, which are based on Information Resources, Inc. InfoScan Reviews
Leading Companies and Brand Share sections – Based on MULO sales data from Information Resources, Inc. InfoScan Reviews. MULO is defined as Multi Outlet, representative of the following channels: Total US Grocery, Mass, Total US Drug, Total Walmart, Dollar, Military, and Club. Note that the values shown in this section differ from the Market Size and Forecast and Segment Performance sections of this report. Leading Companies and Brand Share sales data encompass only sales through MULO channels, while Market Size and Forecast and Segment Performance sales cover the entire retail market.
Consumer survey data
For the purposes of this report, Mintel commissioned exclusive consumer research through GMI to explore consumer use of and attitudes toward oral care products. Mintel was responsible for the survey design, data analysis, and reporting. Fieldwork was conducted in February 2014 among a sample of 2,000 adults aged 18+ with access to the internet.
Mintel selects survey respondents by gender, age, household income, and region so that they are proportionally representative of the US adult population using the internet. Mintel also slightly over-samples, relative to the population, respondents that are Hispanic or Black to ensure an adequate representation of these groups in our survey results and to allow for more precise parameter estimates from our reported findings. Please note that Mintel surveys are conducted online and in English only. Hispanics who are not online and/or do not speak English are not included in the survey results.
Mintel has also analyzed data from Experian Marketing Services, using the Simmons NCS (National Consumer Study) and the Simmons NHCS (National Hispanic Consumer Study). The NHCS was carried out during November 2012-December 2013 and the results are based on the sample of 23,689 adults aged 18+, with results weighted to represent the US adult population.
While race and Hispanic origin are separate demographic characteristics, Mintel often compares them to each other. Please note that the responses for race (White, Black, Asian, Native American, or other race) will overlap those that also are Hispanic, because Hispanics can be of any race.
Abbreviations
The following is a list of abbreviations used in this report.
| CPI | Consumer Price Index |
| GNPD | Global New Products Database |
| MULO | Multi Outlet, representative of following channels: Total US Grocery, Mass, Total US Drug, Total Walmart, Dollar, Military, and Club |
| NHCS | National Consumer Study/National Hispanic Consumer Study (Experian Marketing Services) |
| P&G | Procter & Gamble |
| rsp | Retail selling price |
| SOV | Share of voice |
Terms
| World War II/Swing Generations | Members of the WWII generation were born in 1932 or before and are aged 82 or older in 2014. Members of the Swing Generation were born from 1933-45 and are aged 69-81 in 2014. |
| Baby Boomers | The generation born between 1946 and 1964. In 2014, Baby Boomers are between the ages of 50 and 68. |
| Generation X | The generation born between 1965 and 1976. In 2014, Gen Xers are between the ages of 38 and 49. |
| Millennials* | Born between 1977 and 1994, Millennials are aged 20-37 in 2014. |
| iGeneration | Born between 1995 and 2007, members of iGen are aged 7-19 in 2014. |
| Emerging Generation | The newest generation began in 2008 as the annual number of births declined sharply with the recession. In 2014 members of this as-yet-unnamed generation are younger than 7. |
* also known as Generation Y
In order to provide an inflation-adjusted price value for markets, Mintel uses the CPI to deflate current prices. The CPI is defined as follows:
| CPI | The Consumer Price Index is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. The CPI and its components are typically used to adjust other economic series for price changes and to translate these series into inflation-free dollars. Examples of series adjusted by the CPI include retail sales, hourly and weekly earnings, and components of the national income and product accounts. In addition, and in Mintel reports, the CPI is used as a deflator of the value of the consumer’s dollar to find its purchasing power. The purchasing power of the consumer’s dollar measures the change in the value to the consumer of goods and services that a dollar will buy at different dates. The CPI is generally the best measure for adjusting payments to consumers when the intent is to allow consumers to purchase, at today’s prices, a market basket of goods and services equivalent to one that they could purchase in an earlier period. It is also the best measure to use to translate retail sales into real or inflation-free dollars. Based on Bureau of Labor Statistics definition. |
