Update: Procter & Gamble ranks at #5 on our latest report Top 20 Global Beauty Companies 2020.

Procter & Gamble is #4 on this year's list of Top Global Beauty Companies.

Below is a look at the company's 2019 highlights, recent acquisitions, best-selling brands and latest innovations.

Corporate Sales

$66.8 billion

Beauty Sales

$12.4 billion

Key Personnel

• David S. Taylor, chairman, president and chief executive officer
• Fama Francisco, president, global baby care and baby and feminine care
• William P. Gipson, president, end-to-end packaging transformation and chief diversity officer
• Henry Karamanoukian, president, go-to-market, China and hair care, greater China
• R. Alexandra Keith, president, global hair care and beauty sector
• Jon R. Moeller, vice chairman and chief financial officer
• Juan Fernando Posada, president, Latin America selling and marketing operations
• Matthew S. Price, president, greater China, selling and market operations
• Marc S. Pritchard, chief brand officer
• Markus Strobel, president, global skin and personal care
• Magesvaran Suranan, president, Asia Pacific selling & marketing operations Indian subcontinent, Middle East and Africa selling & market operations
• Loic Tassel, president, Europe selling and market operations
• Carolyn Tastad, group president, North America, global sales officer executive sponsor, gender equality

Major Products/Brands

Hair Care, Skincare and Personal Care, including:

• Head & Shoulders, Aussie
• Herbal Essences, Pantene
• Gillette, Ivory
• Olay, Old Spice
• Safeguard, Secret
• Native, Snowberry, SK-II

New Products

• Pantene Rose Water Collection
• Pantene Pro-V Intense Rescue Shots
• Safeguard Pure White with Germshield+
• Gillette Pure shave cream and gel

Comments

Procter & Gamble continues to rank as one of the most profitable personal care companies based in the United States. After a fiscal tumble in 2016, in 2018 the company posted a respectable 3% gain in net sales, with a 1% increase in both organic sales and unit volume.

P&G 2018 net sales were led by its Beauty (19%), Grooming (10%) and Health Care (12%) divisions, with the most solid sales footing in the North American region (44%), followed by Europe (24%) and Asia Pacific (9%).

Segment-wise, Beauty net sales increased 9% to $12.4 billion in 2018. Although global market share of P&G’s Beauty segment decreased 0.2 points, organic sales increased 7% on a 2% increase in organic volume, and unit volumes increased 2% thanks to top-selling Olay premium and super-premium SK-II skincare brands.

Hair Care net sales increased 5% to $7.9 billion in 2018, though volume increased low single digits, due to competition in developed regions and improved product innovation and in-store executions in developing regions decreased low single digits mainly due to competitive activity. The company’s global market share of the Hair Care category decreased less than half a point.

Volume in P&Gs’ Skincare and Personal Care segment increased low single digits, with product innovation driving low single digit growth in developed market volume.

Grooming net sales, headed by the Gillette franchise, decreased 1% to $6.6 billion in 2018 despite unchanged unit volume. P&G’s grooming portfolio was boosted with the addition of Walker & Company, a brand that specializes in health and beauty for people of color, and Form Beauty, a premium hair care collection for women with textured hair. Walker & Company Brands will operate as a separate and wholly-owned subsidiary of P&G, continuing to be led by CEO and founder Tristan Walker.

Innovation-wise, P&G invented a plastics recycling technology that separates color, odor and other contaminants from recycled polypropylene plastic to purify it into nearly new quality resin. The process is being scaled up with PureCycle Technologies to help unlock the potential for billions of pounds of high-quality recycled plastic to replace virgin materials for P&G and other companies.

News of Note in 2019

At the 2019 Sustainable Brands Conference in Detroit, Olay executives announced they would be test piloting a new way to reduce the amount of plastic used in the beauty category by offering Olay Regenerist Whip moisturizer in select U.S. and UK online retailers with a recyclable, polypropylene refill pod. The concept is one step in the brand’s commitment to making more of their packages recyclable or reusable, as part of P&G’s larger sustainability initiatives.

In the same eco vein, P&G was the first CPG company to respond to TerraCycle’s Loop concept, which helps leading brands redesign packaging and supply chain processes. Eight P&G brands including Pantene and Crest are being used as test brands to help validate and optimize P&G’s collect-clean-refill business model.

Looking Ahead

In March, P&G invested $8.8 million in three new businesses to be created, incubated, scaled and headquartered in Singapore. The investment included a seed fund of nearly $5.9 million through GrowthWorks, an “intrapreneurship” and venture-building unit within P&G Singapore, a move that would help the company innovate faster for its Asian consumers. The Singapore Innovation Center is responsible for critical research and development across brands such as Pantene, Head & Shoulders, SK-II and Olay. 

On the personnel front, this July P&G began implementing a simplified management structure designed to “increase focus, agility and accountability,” while also shifting about 60% of corporate work to the business units and markets. 

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