Toilet paper is the category’s flagship product

Réka Forgách
brand manager
Essity Hungary

Essity Hungary Kft.’s brand manager Réka Forgách told our magazine that household paper product value and volume sales both grew in the first half of 2020 if compared with the level of the first half of 2019. The company did its best to supply consumers with the best quality products even in the difficult pandemic period, and their sales increased above the average.

Orsolya Varga
marketing manager
Vajda-Papír

We learned from Orsolya Varga, marketing manager of Vajda-Papír Kft. that like-for-like hygiene paper product sales were up 19 percent in value and 13 percent in volume (measured in packs) in January-April 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic played a role in this, giving the biggest boost to toilet paper sales.

Attila Kecskeméti
sales and marketing manager
Magyar Piszke Papír

Attila Kecskeméti, sales and marketing manager of Magyar Piszke Papír Kft. talked to us about how demand got 1.5-2 times bigger between March and the end of May in the toilet paper category; in the same period demand for other product categories dropped sharply. From June to the end of August sales plunged 40-60 percent as a result of the spring stockpiling.

Gábor Vizur, Sofidel Hungary Kft.’s brand marketing assistant also reported top-level toilet paper sales during the lockdown and lower demand for napkins and facial tissues.

Quality matters more and more

Gábor Vizur
brand marketing assistant
Sofidel Hungary

Mr Kecskeméti: ‘Seasonality is less and less characteristic of the market. Among kitchen rolls 2-ply, 350-500 sheet unprinted versions are the best-sellers.’ Ms Forgách: ‘Facial tissue sales jump in the spring-summer allergy season and in the winter when the flu comes in. In the wet toilet paper (wet wipe) segment the period of summer travels is the high season.’Mr Vizur: ‘In the kitchen roll category single-roll products with high sheet number and double-roll packs are popular, because they can be used for so many purposes. Our Regina Blitz product was developed especially for cleaning shiny and glass surfaces.’ Ms Varga: ‘We use kitchen rolls in more places and for more purposes than before, as hygiene is crucial these days. Another consumer expectation is to be eco-friendly, in terms of both manufacturing and product utilisation.’

Growing product selection

Kowalska Izabella
category manager
Essity Hungary

Izabella Kowalska, category manager of Essity Hungary Kft. told Trade magazin that Zewa will introduce Zewa face masks to the Hungarian market, soft and comfortable Type 2 medical face masks that filter out 98 percent of pathogens and bacteria; they will be available in packs of 3 and 10. Attila Kecskeméti revealed that Piszke Papír Kft.’s recent top innovation is the box-packaged, shrink film free, large-roll Crepto toilet paper; there are 12 rolls in a box. Szilvia kitchen roll also came out in box version, there are 6 rolls in the box. Both of them are the perfect choice for environmentally conscious consumers.

More paper, less plastic

Vajda-Papír Kft.’s top product is Ooops! Maxi 2-ply, 500-sheet kitchen roll. The company’s cardboard tube free kitchen roll Ooops! Express has only been launched recently. Orsolya Varga talked to our magazine about their plans for developing 3-ply toilet papers, 4-ply facial tissues and 3-ply kitchen rolls – in various kinds of packaging.

Sofidel Hungary Kft. changed the Forest brand name that had been used in the domestic market to the international Regina brand. Gábor Vizur introduced the innovative Regina RinoActive 4-ply, 10×9 piece facial tissue product to us, which was developed with the growing number of allergic consumers in mind. Thanks to its natural active ingredients, the product softens and soothes the skin. This year Regina Skin facial tissues also hit the shops: these super-thin packs are very practical on busy workdays. //