Product type | Oral hygiene |
---|---|
Owner | Colgate-Palmolive |
Country | United States |
Introduced | 1873 |
Markets | Worldwide |
Website | www |
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).
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.
In 2007, the Advertising Standards Authority in the UK told Colgate that it could no longer make the claim that 4 out of 5 dentists recommended Colgate. Investigation had showed that the study had telephone surveyed dentists to list toothpastes they recommended, and their competitors were recommended at similar rates. The claim was deemed deceptive.