Disrupting Procter & Gamble: Private Companies Unbundling P&G And The Consumer Packaged Goods Industry

Procter & Gamble (P&G) is a publicly-traded consumer goods conglomerate with a market capitalization greater than the GDP of many countries. And with a portfolio of brands spanning skin care, hair care, cleaning goods, pet food and more, P&G is now under attack by a host of companies looking to inflict a ‘death by a thousand cuts’ on the $220B giant.

The ‘unbundling’ of P&G is not dissimilar from prior analyses that looked at the startups disrupting FedEx and big banks such as Wells Fargo in that the majority of startups are attacking distinct services & products of P&G rather than the entire portfolio. Of course, the idea of attacking P&G directly on all products is not even feasible, but as Andreessen Horowitz’s Jeff Jordan commented with reference to Tristan Walker’s Walker & Company Brands, “betting narrow can be big.”

The graphic below details companies attacking P&G’s brand portfolio, many of which are venture capital or investor-backed, ranging from cosmetics startup brands like Glossier, Stowaway and Julep Beauty, hair color firms like Madison Reed and eSalon and men’s razor and facial care providers such as Walker & Company, Harry’s and Dollar Shave Club (which recently announced its move into hair care with new brand Boogie’s). Many of the companies below including Dollar Shave Club, Bevel, Julep and Madison Reed offer their products in subscription eCommerce models marketed directly at their target consumers online and so are innovating on both the product and distribution fronts versus incumbents like P&G or Unilever.

We have now (04/19/16) updated the graphic and added nearly 20 new companies–manufacturing and distributing products ranging from cleaning detergents to sunscreens–while leaving on a few notable startups that have gone public, such as Freshpet.

P&G’s portfolio has since evolved from the visual below – most notably, the firm sold its Pringles line to Kellogg Company in 2012. But given the rise of venture-backed startups within snackfood products (and even fast-casual restaurants) such as Hampton Creek and Unreal Brands, they were included in the graphic. Click the graphic to expand.

While many international players are also in verticalized consumer goods, this infographic focuses primarily on US-based companies. We’ll separately analyze the international players going after P&G. Leave a comment if you feel that there are any companies that should be added.

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