Cheaper Tide Rises in Hard Times

Procter & Gamble agonizes over risky move
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 6, 2009 1:03 PM CDT
Cheaper Tide Rises in Hard Times
A shopper grabs a box of Procter & Gamble Co. Tide detergent at Costco in Mountain View, Calif., Monday, April 13, 2009. Companies that make consumer staple products along with some health care firms fared less poorly than other stocks during the worst of the downturn. Some experts are saying it's time...   (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

A cheaper Tide is rolling in: The recession-friendly Tide Basic drops some of the high-tech cleaning components—like anti-pilling ability—contained in the detergent’s traditional form, in exchange for a 20% lower price tag, the Wall Street Journal reports. But the decision to release the new Tide was no easy one for Procter & Gamble, whose executives worry that a less-expensive version could hurt sales of the classic stuff.

Tide saw year-over-year sales drop last fall as it lost market share to private-label and cheaper detergents, helping prompt a few brave P&G executives to push for a less-pricey version. But “this product brings the enormous risk of tarnishing years of brand loyalty and emotional connections because shoppers start asking, 'Why have I been spending all this money all along?'"notes a marketing expert.
(More Tide stories.)

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