Competition heats up in ‘napkin’ industry

It seems anyone with the urge, the money and the bravado, can decide to go into the sanitary napkins business. New brands like La Femme, Padz and Lebresse have recently claimed a place on pharmacy and grocery shelves, adding to the existing brands like Stayfree, Kotex, Always and Confidence. Misons Industries Ltd, makers of Teddies diapers, recently introduced La Femme feminine napkins on the local market. This is the third brand to enter the market within the last year. Ashmeer Ali, general manager of Misons said the company decided to get into the market because of the quality of the napkins currently sold. Ali feels the market has been moving away from the traditional thick napkins (maxi pads) into leaner thinner napkins (ultra thin napkins). Based on this trend, Misons decided to introduce La Femme as an ultra thin napkin to compete with industry leaders like Stayfree and Kotex. The difference, said Ali, is that Mison’s napkins are made locally, while all the big players import their napkins. According to Ali, Stayfree is their biggest competition with a strong hold of almost 85 per cent of the sanitary napkins market, locally and regionally. By the end of the year Ali expects La Femme to grab at least 25 per cent of this market share.

He said no manufacturer within the region is currently producing this type of napkin and Misons decided to capitalise on this emerging trend. But this may be wishful thinking. Christian Lopez, plant manager at Hakim Juman and Sons, the makers of Padz, said they followed the same path Misons is following right now, when they launched their brand last September. Padz currently holds a market share of about 5 per cent. Lopez said believing the market is sophisticated enough for the ultra thin napkin, is not an accurate assumption and manufacturers cannot disregard the maxi pad users. Padz launched an ultra thin, winged napkin as its first product, said Lopez. “What we should have done was launch a maxi pad also. This was the dominant product on the market and was monopolised by Stayfree,” said Lopez. He added that while research showed them that the TT woman was sophisticated and that all trends were moving toward ultra thin napkins, this was not an accurate description of the market.

“About 60 per cent of local women still prefer the traditional maxi pad which is a non-wing thicker product and because of this we lost footing on the market,” said Lopez. Padz is currently working on its new line of maxi pads to reach this market share. Lopez said the competition and brand loyalty on the market is so tight that even with a quality product, manufacturers may find themselves in a slump. “Even when some women tried our product and liked it, they still purchased the more dominant brands they grew up with instead. This is something you have to be aware of when you enter the market,” said Lopez. According to Lopez, there are approximately 300,000 menstruating women in Trinidad and Tobago. Each woman would use about 12 napkins per cycle, bringing the tally up to 3 million napkins needed on a monthly basis. This translates into a company having to produce 8,000 cases of napkins per month to service the entire market. Lopez said, a big player like Stayfree could produce this amount, but for smaller players like Padz, a target of 1,000 cases per month is enough to remain stable on the market. But in most cases production capacity greatly outweighs this number and manufacturers then look towards exporting the excess.