Magazine: Ladies purchase enough intimate hygiene products to last for a month

According to Anita Boros, PR manager with P&G, sales of women’s intimate hygiene products didn’t drop in the recession period. Her experience is that modern women carefully choose the products they use and pick brands they trust.

Ildikó Kardos, marketing manager of SCA Hygiene Products Kft. shared another characteristic of intimate hygiene products with us: more than 90 percent of women buy these goods themselves. Mária Horváth, marketing and brand manager with Bella-Hungária Kft. told us that in terms of volume the intimate hygiene market is in stagnation, but end users are spending more. However, in the incontinence pads category several-percentage-point sales increase is expected. Alveola Kft. product manager Mariann Varga told our magazine that sales of the X-EPIL Intimo brand’s distributor keep growing, indicating that bacterial infection prevention is important for women. All experts agreed that Hungarian consumers are price-sensitive – they are looking for promotions in the intimate hygiene category too and they try private label products. There is only one high season in the category: in the spring-summer beach season sales of pantyliners with wings decline a bit, while more tampons and sanitary pads are sold. Procter&Gamble offers a comprehensive selection of products with its Always, Always Platinum, Discreet and Naturella brands. In modern retail channels large packaging units sell the best. In traditional channels normal size products are the most popular. Libresse observed that the proportion of various segments doesn’t really change. From volume sales pantyliners have a 47-percent share, sanitary pads’ share is 29 percent and tampons have 24 percent. As regards value sales, sanitary pads lead the way with a 43-percent share, followed by tampons at 32 percent and pantyliners’ share is 25 percent. Réka Forgách, trade marketing coordinator of SCA Hygiene Products Kft. informed Trade magazine that planned buying is characteristic of the category: 46 percent of products are purchased during big shopping trips, 32 percent are bought at regular small shopping trips and only 11 percent of category purchases are immediate, urgency-driven. Only 5 percent of shoppers wait until they find special offers. 49 percent of consumers stockpile products for a maximum period of one month, while 36 percent of them have intimate hygiene products stocks that last for 2-3 months. Among Bella-Hungária Kft.’s products women find modern and value-for-money intimate hygiene products, such as Bella Panty pantyliners and Bella Perfecta ultra-thin sanitary pads. Just like other products in their portfolio, they can be found in both pharmacies and in retail units. The company’s observation is that price promotions always influence the market. Procter&Gamble plays an active role in introducing innovations to the Hungarian market. For instance the new version of Always Platinum absorbs intimate odours. Another new product has appeared in the updated Always Ultra Sensitive product line. Flexible and multiform Always pantyliners can also be found in shops – in several sizes. In the Libresse Ultra product range Ultra Long (36 pieces) and Natural Ultra (40 pieces) have been introduced to meet the growing demand for larger packaging units. Bella Perfecta Blue products feature a softiplait top layer, while Perfecta Green sanitary pads boast increased absorbing capacity and a drainette top layer. Deo Fresh Rose and Violet are scented sanitary pads which are also extremely comfortable. Bella Perfecta ultra-thin sanitary pads return with a new look in September. White is the dominant colour on the new collection’s packaging. Alveola Kft. celebrates its 20th birthday this year. They keep promoting their Hungarian brand X-EPIL and this means offering new products in the X-EPIL Intimo line, too. This year they came out with two new packaging units of the X-EPIL Intimo wash gel, a 400ml and a 50l version can now be found on store shelves. A 250ml exclusively packaged wash gel is still available as well.