The Top 50

The pandemic is no longer top-of-mind for consumers. But they’ve still got plenty on their minds. And a crop of new issues is having an impact on the household and personal products industry.

Even before consumer buying patterns returned to normal, and shoppers returned to stores, marketers and their suppliers were hit with soaring raw material costs driven, in part, by supply chain issues. Then came the War in Ukraine, and most companies in our industry responded by exiting Russia in a sign of solidarity against the invasion. All of these issues have roiled global household and personal product markets. Roiled, but the industry remains on a roll. According to Euromonitor International, global sales of household and personal products rose 3.5% last year to $715 billion.

In The Top 50, our annual look at the largest US players in the household and personal products industry, nearly every company took time to detail price increases that they plan on passing on to consumers. Most are in the 8-12% range. Of course, no one is saying when prices will come down. In fact, there’s growing concern that the US and other economies may be entering a recession. History tells us, of course, that the household and personal products industry fares much better than others when economies dip.

Since we’ve started publishing The Top 50 in 1978, Procter & Gamble has always been ranked No. 1. Times change, but not the top spot on our list. Coming in at a distant No. 2 is The Estée Lauder Companies. But there has been some movement among The Top 50. L Brands is no longer. As a result, Bath & Body Works and Victoria’s Secret are stand-alone companies that made our list. New is Orveon, which owns brands such as Bare Mineral, Laura Mercier and Buxom. Also new are Oddity and Maesa.

We hope you enjoy this edition of The Top 50. If you think your company belongs here, reach out. And, of course, be sure to read the August issue of Happi, which includes the International Top 30—our list of the biggest players in the global household and personal products industry with headquarters outside the US.