The Asia-Pacific region is the world’s largest growing retail tissue and hygiene market with USD $56.2 billion in sales. China leads the region with USD $36.2 billion and Japan falls in second with USD $8.1 billion dollars in sales. While store-based retail accounts for majority of the tissue and disposable hygiene sales in the region, online retail is gaining traction. For example, in China, 26 percent of all diapers were sold online in 2015, compared to five percent five years ago.

Overall, many tissue and hygiene companies struggled in 2015, as currency devaluation and economic difficulties in many markets put industry revenues and profit margins under heavy pressure. Increases in import and production costs affected companies relying on imported raw materials and goods. But while many international players struggled to drive sales and revenues in these conditions, domestic manufacturers capitalized on them, increasing their branded and private label product sales. In Russia, for instance, private label nearly doubled its share of retail tissue sales from 2013 to 2015.

Within tissue and hygiene, one of the categories that saw the most growth was adult incontinence, with USD $7.2 billion in sales in 2015. It is forecasted a seven percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2020.

According to the Global Head of Tissue and Hygiene Research at Euromonitor, Svetlana Uduslivaia, “The adult incontinence category continues to grow due to consumer education, better understanding of incontinence and better consumer awareness of products available. Additionally, the category is driven by expanding product assortment in stores and online channels, including specialized adult incontinence online-only retailers and innovation that sees increasing product segmentation and formats to address various types of adult incontinence.”

To learn more about Euromonitor tissue and hygiene research visit: http://www.euromonitor.com/tissue-and-hygiene

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