P&G gears up to grow oral care market share with Oral B toothbrush launch

Procter & Gamble (P&G) plans to substantially increase its oral care market share following the introduction of its Oral-B Complete 7 toothbrushes into the Kenyan and East African regional market.

 

The toothbrushes, which are part of the company’s oral care range that comprises of toothpastes,  mouth wash and dental flosses, is part of P&G’s onslaught for a bigger stake in the fast growing  oral care market coming against the backdrop of a highly health conscience consumer.

Communications Manager Irene Mwathi-Miheso said that P&G is optimistic that with the growing middle class as well as general increase in dental education that they will see consumers change their toothbrushes more often.  Today a vast majority of Kenyans still use the same toothbrush for more than a year whereas they should change it after 3 months as it loses its effectiveness after that.

“We currently control 16% of the Kenyan oral care market but with the launch we hope to increase consumer oral care awareness and hopefully see some growth in the market share,” said Ms. Miheso.

The  Oral- B brand which is the global oral care leader has been part of the P&G stable  since 2005 and has a product portfolio that includes manual and power toothbrushes for children and adults, dental flosses, oral irrigators, oral care centers and interdental products. Oral-B toothbrushes are used by more dentists than any other brand worldwide.

P&G's Health Care segment where Oral-B falls under contributed to 10% of the 2015 first-quarter sales. This segment saw net sales jump by 6% for the quarter, on the back of a 4% increase in volume and positive one-point contributions from pricing and product mix.

Ms. Miheso added that the volume share increase was due to product innovation in oral care and personal health care. Last year, the brand launched the Oral-B brushing timer for its electrical toothbrushes.

However with only 30% of Kenyans using toothbrushes and dental flosses, Oral B plans to invest  resources in consistently increasing its brand equity among consumers and oral health care professionals such as dentists. It also intends to utilize its wide distribution presence in Africa to make huge promotional investments to attract customers.

On an average, the price of a toothbrush for an adult costs anywhere between KES 50 – KES 350 depending on the quality. The convenience of use of the toothbrush, ability to reach difficult areas of the mouth, design and aesthetics are some of the factors that consumer consider when selecting a toothbrush.

“It is our hope that this the dental flosses and toothbrushes combined with subsequent oral care campaigns together with partners such as the Kenya Dental Association will promote public awareness of oral health in particular preventive oral health measures such as simple brushing,” added Ms. Miheso.

It is estimated that only five per cent of Kenyans have access to quality dental health care because of lack of a proper health financing system which prevents most low income earners from accessing dentists.
According to a study title ‘Oral health status and oral healthcare seeking behavior of a rural community in Kenya’,   there is widespread poor oral health and poor oral hygiene practices among rural communities which imply there was a high demand for oral health care. The study recommended public awareness of oral health, in particularly preventive oral health measures with the aim of reducing the high levels of poor oral health status.