Where Consumers Shop for Tissue and Hygiene

Sales of tissue and hygiene are dominated by offline retailers, mainly driven by supermarkets, pharmacies and hypermarkets. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, e-commerce has been thriving with increasing acceptance from broader consumer groups among generations and improvement in delivery services from retailers and last-mile players. This report delves into the performance of different retail channels for sales of tissue and hygiene and analyses retailers’ activities.

Key Findings

Global tissue and hygiene sales grow in 2023, despite negative external factors 

The world tissue and hygiene market continued to grow in constant value terms in 2022 and 2023, showing resilience in the context of the ongoing negative forces threatening the industry, such as high inflation, the impact of war on supply chains, climate change, and currency devaluations. Toilet paper - the biggest category globally - continued to drive industry growth. Paper towels, however, recorded the highest rate in 2023.

Modern grocery retailers, i.e. supermarkets and hypermarkets, lead store-based retail in 2023

Supermarkets remains the leading offline channel globally. This leadership comes from the large number of outlets in this format, the vast assortment of products across price tiers and the formats the channel is capable of offering. Hypermarkets holds the second largest share for offline tissue and hygiene sales.

E-commerce is the preferred channel among less price-sensitive and, especially, urban consumers

E-commerce continued its strong performance in 2023, by sustaining organic growth across the categories. Asia Pacific is the regional leader in e-commerce sales of tissue and hygiene; China takes the lead in absolute value sales and South Korea is the largest market in terms of the e-commerce share of tissue and hygiene.

Private label as a response to the cost-of-living crisis

Amid ongoing inflationary pressures, discounters and warehouse clubs will gain continued traction as global consumers are more likely to focus on prices. However, some soft drivers will still exist; hybrid working models will sustain demand for home consumption. Private label in North America and Western Europe is still being developed; in other regions it is only yet emerging.

The Where Consumers Shop for Tissue and Hygiene global briefing offers an insight into to the size and shape of the tissue and hygiene market, highlights buzz topics, emerging regions, countries and categories as well as pressing industry issues and white spaces. It identifies the opportunity zones within tissue and hygiene, analyses leading companies and brands, assesses the importance of private label and offers strategic analysis of major factors influencing the market - be they new product developments, economic/lifestyle/environmental influences, distribution or pricing issues. Forecasts illustrate how the market is set to change and criteria for success.

Product coverage: Away-from-Home Tissue and Hygiene, Retail Tissue and Hygiene, Rx/Reimbursement adult incontinence, Total Tissue and Hygiene.

Data coverage: market sizes (historic and forecasts), company shares, brand shares and distribution data.

Why buy this report?

• Get a detailed picture of the Tissue and Hygiene market;
• Pinpoint growth sectors and identify factors driving change;
• Understand the competitive environment, the market’s major players and leading brands;
• Use five-year forecasts to assess how the market is predicted to develop.