Oral care company Colgate-Palmolive launched a new electric toothbrush exclusively on Shopee Mall, a Southeast Asian eRetail platform, in April 2022. The digital-first product was launched on Colgate’s official store as part of a ‘Super Brand Day’ campaign, solely for the Malaysian, Philippines, Singaporean, Thai, and Vietnamese markets. Colgate launched the innovative toothbrush in selected Asia-Pacific (APAC) markets where the penetration of oral care electrical appliances is low and online spending on oral care is high, finds GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
Bobby Verghese, Consumer Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The product launch is unsurprising given that more than three-quarters of consumers in the five APAC countries are shopping online for non-grocery products. Among the five countries, where the electric toothbrush has been launched Vietnam has the highest spenders on oral hygiene products according to GlobalData’s Q1 2022 consumer survey*. Moreover, within the country, 52% of female consumers have a quite/very high spend on oral hygiene products compared to 46% of male consumers*.”
According to Colgate-Palmolive, the innovative electric toothbrush, launched with the tagline ‘Tailored for Your Smile’, was designed to align with the lifestyle needs of modern consumers based on its internal research into cultural and category trends. Colgate-Palmolive claims that the toothbrush has controls for users to personalize their brushing experience by changing the vibration intensity and cleaning mode. These customization features can appeal to *62% of Vietnamese consumers who are often/always influenced by how well the product/service is tailored to their needs and personality.
The device is also claimed to incorporate smart features that including a timer to ensure adequate brushing time, a pressure sensor for indicating the optimal brushing pressure, and a quad pacer that pulses to indicate that it is time to move the brush to another area of the mouth. Such ‘smart’ devices can attract 61% of Vietnamese who are often/always influenced by how digitally advanced/smart the product/service is*.
Verghese concludes: “Colgate-Palmolive’s electric toothbrush can address the needs of the tech-savvy and convenience-driven APAC youth who are increasingly shopping online for oral care products. Through the new offering, the company aims to grab the early bird advantage and tap the potential of the APAC market, where the penetration of oral care electric appliances is very low.”
*Data taken from GlobalData Q1 2022 Consumer Survey – Asia-Pacific with 6,585 respondents, published in March 2021
