Colgate Palmolive Ultra Brite Toothpaste

Consumers will step up to a higher price or enhanced quality product if given a compelling reason. The chief marketing objective for Colgate Ultra Brite is to capture that consumer market. Product formulations that make a difference continue to lead the market and command premium prices.

The makers of core brands have reacted to increasing competition by addressing niche sales, including Colgate's Ultra Brite with peroxide and baking soda. Industry reports note that baking soda and peroxide products annual sales were up 14.2 percent through 1996, and that the whitening segment was up 43 percent during the same period. To capitalize on Colgate's branding and the acceptance of new formulations, Colgate introduced Ultra Brite in December 1996.

Market-wide dentifrice sales for the 52 week period ending February 27, 1997 slipped 1.4 percent from the previous 52 weeks. Ultra Brite has captured 1.9 percent of Colgate's over 20 percent market share or world sales in oral hygiene products. Considering the acceptance of enhanced products, there is a suspicion of cannibalization. The trend toward discounting in developed economies may have slowed Ultra Brite's acceptance.

Nevertheless, the prospects for marketing Colgate-Palmolive oral care products in developing economies remains strong. While Colgate's introduction of new products may cause confusion in developed markets, Colgate continues to develo

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reflect growth from the Asia/Africa, North American, and Latin American segments and improved gross profit margins (Colgate Palmolive Company, 1997). Whitening dentifrice sales have been growing by 3 percent each year, since Den-Mat first introduced Rembrandt Whitening Toothpaste and SmithKline Beecham's Aquafresh picked up the banner in 1995 with Aquafresh Whitening. The category now accounts for between 8 and 9 percent of the dollar value of the U.S. dentifrice market. This accounts for the concern over the drop industry wide in this area of sales (Offshore markets offer hope..., 1997). Typically, drug, discount and food stores are expected to carry certain brand names regardless of profitability. Often, the most popular products are those that are subject to widespread discounting. In order to increase profitability, retail outlets encourage consumers to step up to premium brands. This may account for the slight drop in Colgate-Palmolive's sales in dentifrices, in particular Ultra Brite. It may simply be that Ultra Brite's sales are being cannibalized by sales of Colgate Total (Offshore markets offer hope..., 1997). In order to retain market share and regain whatever share has been lost, Colgate-Palmolive needs to sor
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Approximate Word count = 2932
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page)

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