Two of the most well-known toothpaste brands in the UK are still selling their most 'basic' toothpastes for 100ml for £1, which I don't think is much of a rise on what it's been for the last few years (I think I used to get 125ml for that price).
People on modest salaries either don't spot the cheaper, just-as-good toothpaste that's not as prominent, they think that it's not as good as the ones with lists of all the great things they're supposed to do, or they aren't feeling the squeeze enough to seek it out.
If you drop into an independent chemist you might notice that sometimes the only toothpaste they stock is the 'basic' one, because their customers are price-sensitive, so that's all they'll buy.
Going rate for pizza is around 60p/100g, with a larger than average Aldi 'Meat Feast' pizza coming in at £2.19, which is 39p/100g.
Again, if you're on a 'modest salary', you pick the cheaper products or pick the supermarkets which only really sell the cheaper products.
I'm not saying that prices aren't going up, just that closer to the 'survival' line, there is much less room to increase prices, because people aren't at the point of choosing based on preference, so you can't rely on them switching to a slightly cheaper option from your artificially differentiated product line (yes, you, Colgate-Palmolive). They'll just be forced to stop buying your products altogether.
> most 'basic' toothpastes for 100ml for £1, which I don't think is much of a rise on what it's been for the last few years (I think I used to get 125ml for that price).
Going from 125mL to 100mL for the same price => 20% price inflation.
The proportion of my local supermarket given over to toothpaste is mind blowing. It's like the beginnings of some sort of Brontitallian Shoe Event Horizon.
For what is essentially just a mild abrasive plus fluoride, the baffling array of variations on a theme on display, mostly from the same few fmcg conglomerates anyway, is just ridiculous.
It’s probably a strategy. They overwhelm you with choice. So you end up with some simple heuristic like more expensive is better. Get something middle of the pack and you are still overpaying 200%.
Yes, which would seem around in line with inflation. I was replying to a comment talking about seeing toothpaste for £5, which gives the impression that perhaps the price of toothpaste has rocketed past that of inflation, which doesn’t appear to be the case.
There's other dimensions than the quality of the toothpaste. The dispenser provides a significantly better usability experience if you're willing to spend an extra $1. The cheapest toothpastes are screw caps that can fall on the floor and take a few moments take off and put on. The hinged pop open/closed interface is simpler.
The point was about the rise in prices across the spectrum of available products vs those that would be expected given inflation figures. But thanks for the tube tip!
People on modest salaries either don't spot the cheaper, just-as-good toothpaste that's not as prominent, they think that it's not as good as the ones with lists of all the great things they're supposed to do, or they aren't feeling the squeeze enough to seek it out.
If you drop into an independent chemist you might notice that sometimes the only toothpaste they stock is the 'basic' one, because their customers are price-sensitive, so that's all they'll buy.
Going rate for pizza is around 60p/100g, with a larger than average Aldi 'Meat Feast' pizza coming in at £2.19, which is 39p/100g.
Again, if you're on a 'modest salary', you pick the cheaper products or pick the supermarkets which only really sell the cheaper products.
I'm not saying that prices aren't going up, just that closer to the 'survival' line, there is much less room to increase prices, because people aren't at the point of choosing based on preference, so you can't rely on them switching to a slightly cheaper option from your artificially differentiated product line (yes, you, Colgate-Palmolive). They'll just be forced to stop buying your products altogether.