Wipes in Uruguay

PRE-COVID-19 PERFORMANCE

Overall low penetration largely depends on success of baby wipes

Personal wipes was a larger category than home care wipes and floor cleaning systems in Uruguay in 2019. Within personal wipes, baby wipes made up the largest volume (around 80%).

Restrictions in growth defined by declining birth rates and multi-purpose marketing needed

A restriction to growth noted in 2019 was in relation to the declining birth rates in Uruguay. Retail volumes of baby wipes witnessed downturns in 2018 and 2019 and, as wipes are less essential than nappies/diapers/pants and their functions are easy to replicate with cotton cloths and water, sales are expected to be more strongly impacted by the declining birth rates.

Baby wipes players dominate, with stronger marketing needed to help boost category overall

Kimberly-Clark Uruguay SA continued to lead wipes in 2019, thanks to its Huggies brand in baby wipes. In fact, due to the dominance of baby wipes in the overall category, the most popular brands in wipes are those which are well known and respected in baby wipes.

2020 AND BEYOND

COVID-19 impact

Sales of wipes are now expected to grow by just 2% in 2019 constant value terms in 2020 overall in light of the impact of COVID-19. This compares to a 3% rise forecast in 2019 constant value terms in our 2020 edition of tissue and hygiene published in February 2020 (pre-COVID-19).

Affected products within wipes

Wipes in Uruguay is unusual compared to other countries, as wipes has not seen any direct impact from COVID-19. Typically, we would expect some decline in sales of certain non-essential wipes products, with an upswing in other personal care wipes and home cleaning wipes which cater specifically for hygiene and stronger cleaning purposes.

Recovery and opportunities

Opportunities in wipes are mainly around marketing consumers in Uruguay about the multi-uses of wipes across the category. Whilst baby wipes is the largest and somewhat saturated sub-category, this could be positively stimulated by players educating consumers about how many ways they can use baby wipes as both personal care and home care wipes.

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