Product type Oral hygiene Country United States Website www.colgate.com | Owner Colgate-Palmolive Markets Worldwide | |
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Introduced 1873; 144 years ago (1873) | ||
Colgate is an umbrella brand principally used to sell oral hygiene products such as toothpastes, toothbrushes, mouthwashes and dental floss. Manufactured by American consumer-goods conglomerate Colgate-Palmolive, Colgate oral hygiene products were first sold by the company in 1873, sixteen years after the death of the founder, William Colgate.
According to a 2015 report by market research company Kantar Worldpanel, Colgate is the only brand in the world purchased by more than half of households globally. Colgate has a global market penetration of 67.7% and a global market share of 45% - despite this, it maintained the highest growth rate of all brands in the survey, with 40 million new households purchasing Colgate-branded products in 2014. Its global market penetration is nearly 50% higher than the second-placed brand in the study, Coca-Cola (43.3% penetration).
History
Colgate was the first toothpaste in a collapsible tube, introduced in 1896 in New York City. It had been sold in glass jars since 1873.
It has been in Singapore since the 1920s. It is in Nepal and India, with manufacturing units based in India and exported to Nepal. While in the Philippines, it is introduced in 1940's.
In 1992, Colgate established its first factory in India to produce toothpaste for the domestic market, and by 1999 became the highest selling brand in the world. Colgate products are marketed in China using the transcription 高露洁 (Pinyin: Gāolùjié), which means "high-quality cleaning gel". As of 2002, Colgate occupied 20% of the market share for toothpastes in China. As of 2015, it also commanded approximately 70% of the oral care market in Brazil.
As of 2015, oral care products (principally produced under the Colgate brand) were the Colgate-Palmolive company's largest source of income, making up around US$7.5 billion, or 47% of net sales globally (with personal care products such as shampoos making up 20%, home care products such as laundry detergents 19% and pet nutrition products making up the remaining 14%).
It is (as of 2017) the dominant oral care brand in India, with a 55% market share nationwide. However, it has reportedly been challenged by fast-growing local competitor Patanjali Ayurved, whose products based on Indian herbal remedies and traditional medicine has caused a 1.5% hit to Colgate's market share (and forced it to launch a competing herbal ayurvedic toothpaste of its own).