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BUSINESS Monday 9 March 2020
A25

P&G CEO on products for older folks; cutting back on plastic

By JOSEPH PISANI P&G is still growing.
NEW YORK (AP) — Tide de- Q: P&G has bought some
tergent, Pantene sham- smaller brands. Will you
poo and Gillette razors buy more, or is it easier to
have filled cupboards create them?
for decades. But being a A: It varies. Generally, P&G
household name isn't good is able to invent most things.
enough anymore. We have over 175 active
Proctor & Gamble, which experiments going on in the
makes those products and company. Call it small start-
more, is facing increasing ups: a few people working
competition. Shoppers are on an idea, trying to ad-
buying more store brands, dress a consumer problem.
which cost less and get On the other hand, there
prime shelf space in super- may have been an entre-
markets and big box stores. preneur that's done a really
And then there's the rise of good job in an area that
hip online startups selling we say, "That's ahead of
razors and natural deodor- what we're doing," or they
ants directly to a younger identified a new area and it
generation. may be better to go ahead
P&G has been buying and acquire that. So we're
some of those new brands, open to both.
such as the maker of Bev- Q: Plastic is a big environ-
el razors, aimed at young mental problem, and P&G
men of color. uses it for packaging. How
David Taylor, P&G's CEO, are you addressing that?
says the company is also A: You will see manufac-
tweaking products to ap- turers like us working to use
peal to older folks, who are more recycled plastic. You
quickly becoming a big will see us look for alterna-
chunk of the population. In tives to plastic. The biggest
the U.S., for example, the issue is not plastic, it's when
government expects adults plastic gets into a river that
over 65 to outnumber chil- goes into the ocean and
dren for the first time in degrades and gets into ei-
2034. ther the food supply or wa-
Taylor, who has run Cincin- ter supply. We are part of
nati-based P&G since 2015, The Alliance to End Plastic
recently talked to The As- In this Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017, file photo, Procter & Gamble CEO David Taylor answers questions Waste. It's a global cross-
sociated Press about the at a news conference following P&G's shareholder vote, in Cincinnati. industry effort, and we've
rise of online shopping and raised over $1 billion dollars
his take on reducing plas- different when you're older. A: Yeah, it's no question. E- A: Any competition is a over five years working with
tic waste. The questions Q: Why do you think it's an commerce is growing fast- challenge. We see that as many nonprofit organiza-
and answers below have underserved market? er than bricks and mortar. an opportunity for us to el- tions and municipalities to
been edited for clarity and A: If you look in the market- Q: How are you dealing evate the performance of get new technologies and
length. place there are just count- with stores creating private- our brands. We have grown solutions so that plastic
Q: P&G launched a razor less examples, whether it's label brands that compete share at the same time pri- waste gets addressed, col-
aimed at caretakers that's packaging or formulation with your products? vate label has grown, and lected and processed.q
designed to shave some- that is designed for the
one else. Are there other 18-to-49-year-old, which
products you're thinking has been more of a historic
about for older genera- target audience for many
tions? consumer products.
A: There is an aging popula- Q: How closely do you work
tion around the world: take with Amazon?
Japan, take Italy, take the A: Amazon is a very val-
U.S. We have tried to make ued customer, but so is
sure that we broaden the Walmart and Target and
audience that we serve. Walgreens and Kroger and
The aging population is a Costco and Sam's Club.
huge, and in many ways, We want to be agnostic
underserved group. It can to where consumers want
be everything from how to shop. Our e-commerce
easy it is to read the pack- business is passing $5 billion
age, how easy it is to open and grew 25% last year. It's
the package, or the design a big part of our business.
of the formula to appeal to But in the context of our to-
the specific issues that you tal company, it's just under
may have. Your hair needs 10% of our sales.
are different when you're Q: Do you think that's going
older. Your skin needs are to change?