P.&G.’s Chief on Whether Brand Loyalty Is Enough When Prices Keep Climbing

The New York Times ^ | 4th October 2026 | jordyn Holman

[Cronos]

Sales growth at P.&G. has slowed for years as households with lower incomes are increasingly turning to store brands, which are usually priced lower than P.&G.’s products.

At the same time, tariffs and rising energy costs caused by geopolitical conflicts have added costs to P.&G.’s operations and its sprawling global supply chain. In response, the company has raised prices and laid off workers. Last year, it said it was cutting 7,000 jobs, or 6 percent of its work force, over the next two years as it looked to reorganize amid the changing dynamics.

My experience from emerging markets is sometimes we think the lower-income consumer is not willing to pay for performance. Actually sometimes they are more willing to pay for performance because for them, failure is not an option. If I don’t have tons of clothes, I absolutely need those clothes to come out clean.

Tide liquids is more expensive than many brands in the market. To earn the loyalty, we need to make sure consumers feel that performance is something that we would never trade. But we have to earn it, and we have to earn it every day.

What kind of work do you see A.I. eliminating?

We find certain work can completely go away, but certain work suddenly pops up. I’ll give you a simple example. I can move a lot of my manufacturing lines to autonomous manufacturing. In those cases, we are actually redeploying more of those people on innovation.

There’s another case where, on brand building, the number of people we now need to generate the stuff is dramatically increased. The brand building space is where we are adding the most number of people right now.

[1ScrappyArmyMom]

I buy HEB products, which are better tasting than the national brands. Cheaper and less gunk in them.

There is very little I buy from big brands. We get our meat from a local butcher from a family ranch. Best beef and not loaded with filler or chemicals.

Also get long lasting staples from Amish stores.

[catnipman]

“Do you buy branded stuff? Or prefer store labels?”

i buy for value and utility, and unfortunately have found that most store-branded paper products such as paper towels and TP are totally inferior to the branded items, because as a company, i detest P&G ...

OTOH, there are tons of store-branded canned products that are just fine, though Kuner canned green beans can’t be beat ...

[Bon of Babble]

I have switched almost entirely to store labels - a while ago I decided to try one store label a week, and found the quality and performance to be the same, if not better, with one rare exception - the store brand of “chili sauce” was actually cocktail sauce and didn’t work.

As for household products, which have become incredibly expensive, I make my own - laundry detergent, carpet cleaning solution, dog shampoo, glass cleaner, all purpose cleaners and more - for a fraction of the price.

[Bon of Babble]

Tide is locked up everywhere in So Cal - meaning you have to find someone with a key to unlock the display case, which is a huge hassle b/c there are fewer employees in the stores now. The one time I needed something that was locked up it took 20 minutes to find someone, who had the wrong key and then get the display case unlocked.

So no. Amazon from now on.

And, you’d better learn to self check out - b/c often that is the only thing that is open in the grocery stores around here - or one manned check stand with a very long line.

[Rio]

Charmin is also P&G product. I toured one of their plants near Camarillo, CA in probably ‘85. They bragged about using a certain percentage of eucalyptus fiber from some special location to make the Charmin stronger.

[ridesthemiles]

IF YOU LIVE ON A SEPTIC TANK—DO NOT USE SUCH PRODUCTS.

COTTONELLE USES RECYCLED COTTON CLOTHING IN THEIR MANUFACTURING.

THOSE BITS OF COTTON DO NOT PROCESS PROPERLY IN A SEPTIC TANK

[ridesthemiles]

THAT ‘SPECIAL LOCATION” IS THE REMOVAL OF THOSE TREES ALONG MALIBU

[Sacajaweau]

I ordered it on line at Target and picked it up at the front desk. Nice service for oldies like myself.

[TexasKamaAina]

A friend’s son-in-law works in mgmnt at HEB. He claims that any HEB product is equal to or better than name brand (though Hill Country Fare not so). Seems to be true most of the time. I don’t buy HEB sugar because it is coarser than C&H.

[voicereason]

Not as good, but good enough.

Add some Borax to the wash cycle. Relatively inexpensive and helps the detergent work better.

[Dr. Sivana]

He claims that any HEB product is equal to or better than name brand (though Hill Country Fare not so).

When I was stationed in Lubbock, I went to HEB and bought the store brand for various items.

I found the peanut butter to not be to my taste. It was thicker than Skippy, which is already too thick. It might be of the same "quality", but it is not a knock-off, so try it and be ready to go back to what you prefer.

[powerset]

P&G makes some good products, but their business practices are not entirely ethical, in my opinion.

1. Several years ago, P&G changed their standard sizes of Dawn bottles to be taller and wider, so they looked bigger. But the redesigned bottles hold less of the liquid. To add injury to insult, the new bottles are “artistically” sculpted. But the new shape makes them harder to hold on to with soapy hands (compared to the old dumpy-looking bottles).

2. P&G Bounty paper towels have long come in the cleverly worded Select-a-Size, which is about half as wide as the previously standard, approximately square, Full-Size. Recently P&G has come out with Quick-Size, which is “slightly smaller” than S-a-S (but “hardly noticeable” according to Amazon’s AI). According to “https://theblogjournal.com/what-is-the-difference-between-bounty-select-a-size-and-quick-size/“, Q-S is also less absorbent and less durable. So what is P&G up to this time? The name has changed (unlike with Dawn), but are they really going to keep both variants? Or do they expect people to shift to Q-S as being a bit less expensive per roll, while generating more revenue for P&G long term because of Q-S’s lesser absorbency, durability and “hardly noticeable” reduced size

[Cronos]

those are standard practices to squeeze out more from the end customers

[Bon of Babble]

They’ll also bring it right out to the car - what my disabled brother does, on the app, he tells them he’s there and said they bring it right out and load it up for him.

[Sacajaweau]

I don't have a cell phone so can't do that.

I get my weekly (or ten days) groceries from Walmart and they deliver right to my apartment door. The fee is $50 per year. It's wonderful and if there's a problem...they're terrific to solve it for you.

I get all my meats at Aldi...but I shop for those cuz the store is not huge.

[HamiltonJay]

There are very few things I am brand loyal too, and if I am it is because I have seen that they are indeed better quality, not simply huge marketing budgets, that are behind their higher price.

However even when they are better quality there is a price delta where the delta isn’t worth it.

[HamiltonJay]

Laundry detergent is literally the biggest scam ever invented.. just buy borax ,washing soda and a ground up bar of laundry soap. Literally pennies per load < a nickel.

And you don’t have all those chemical crap the commercial products leave behind in the clothing… (yes that scent you smell is a chemical that is intentionally left behind on the clothing to make it smell)..

There are some other enzymes you can add for particular nasty stains or things, but for your typical laundry that is literally all you need. $20 will get you multiple hundreds of loads…

[Bon of Babble]

I have been making my own laundry detergent for years.

Forumla is:

2 cups borax

2 cups washing soda

1 cup oxy-clean (Walmart knock off is same and far cheaper).

For Whites use Oxy-clean w/ bleach. For darks, I use Molly’s Suds laundry booster for dark clothes, from Amazon.

1 bar grated castile or Fels Naptha (I use castile b/c I can’t stand the smell of Fels Naptha). I was able to buy 7 bars of Freeman’s pure castile bar soap on Amazon for ≈ $13 - they even sent me an extra bar.

I also make my own dog shampoo, carpet cleaner, window cleaner, all-purpose cleaner, floor cleaner and more. I’m a clean freak and these products have worked very well for me - for a fraction of the price! (and are far better for home and the environment).