P&G slashes price of Lenor Ultra

Procter & Gamble has slashed the price of its market leading fabric conditioner, Lenor Ultra by 17 per cent, in its latest low-pricing move aimed at attacking supermarket own-label brands.

Lenor Ultra refills have dropped their price from 1.19 to 99p. Own-label versions sell for 79p.

A Lever Brother’s spokeswoman says that it will review its pricing policy on rival fabric conditioner Comfort in response to P&G’s move.

P&G will launch a national TV push (worth an undisclosed sum) in May for Lenor Ultra, which it has also reformulated and repackaged for the pan-European market. It is likely supermarket chains Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Safeway will retaliate.

Last year, Lever Brothers re-launched Comfort in a bid to grab a bigger slice of the 130m fabric conditioner market. According to Nielsen, Lenor’s share has fallen from market leader at 36.9 per cent in 1994 to 34 per cent by value. Though rival Comfort’s share has fallen from its relaunch high of 36.2 per cent last year, it is market leader with 34.9 per cent share.

P&G sparked a worldwide furore when it was revealed it had begun price cutting on leading brands such as Flash, Pampers and Fairy. P&G director of corporate communications Dick Johnson had said value pricing would be implemented on only selected brands and not accompanied by a reduction in advertising spend (MW February 23).