Why Clorox Wipes Are Still So Hard to Find
May 07 2020 - 8:29AM
Dow Jones News
By Sharon Terlep
Toilet paper is back on shelves and hand sanitizer is easier to
find, but one item remains as elusive as ever: disinfectant
wipes.
Clorox Co. and Lysol maker Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC have seen
sales of sanitizing wipes more than double in the past two months
amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to Nielsen. But while
makers of other hard-to-find staples are catching up with demand,
the producers of Clorox, Lysol and private-label wipes are as far
behind as ever. Clorox said it doesn't expect to catch up until
summer, while Reckitt Benckiser said it is unsure when supplies
will replenish.
"We're shipping canisters of wipes every day to our customers,
and within 30-45 minutes they're gone from shelves," Clorox finance
chief Kevin Jacobsen said in an interview. "Demand has outstripped
what anybody could have imagined."
Clorox has increased production of disinfectant products by 40%,
but sales have stretched to five times the normal level at times
during the spread of Covid-19, Mr. Jacobsen said. U.S. sales of
disinfectant wipes were up 146% for the eight-week period ended
March 25 compared with a year ago, according to Nielsen.
While wipes are in short supply, disinfectant sprays, surface
cleaners and other coronavirus-fighting cleaning products are
selling out as well. Many household and personal-care products,
from paper towels to cold medicine to baby wipes, are also in high
demand, though aren't as tough to find as disinfectant wipes.
Wipes are especially coveted for their convenience at a time
when Americans spend their days wiping down homes with
disinfectants in an effort to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Toilet paper is also a hot seller, but has slowly become more
available as consumers stockpile less and factories that were flush
with the product worked to accelerate shipments. Hand sanitizer,
another convenient cleaner, is now being produced by many dozens of
companies new to the business, from fragrance makers to breweries
to traditional personal-care companies.
Disinfectant wipes can't be made as readily as hand sanitizer.
The process combines fabric wipes with the cleaning solution, and
the Environmental Protection Agency has in place criteria for
cleaners to be considered effective for use against SARS-CoV-2, the
virus that causes Covid-19.
And unlike toilet paper, which is ubiquitous in homes and
businesses, only about half of American households stocked
disinfectant wipes before the pandemic, Clorox's Mr. Jacobsen said.
That led to an even more dramatic demand spike as current wipe
users consumed a much higher volume while new buyers sought them
out.
Clorox said it is running plants around the clock to try to meet
demand. The company is calling on third-party manufacturers and has
reduced the variety of products it sells to simplify manufacturing.
The company, for instance, halted sales of a new compostable Clorox
wipe, which wasn't a disinfecting product, and is using that
capacity to make traditional wipes instead.
Clorox also is making long-term capital investments with the
expectation that demand for cleaning products, and wipes
specifically, will remain high after this initial surge passes and
Americans remain focused on cleaning. Clorox plans to add
disinfectant-making lines at a factory in Atlanta that has extra
space.
Truly catching up with customer demand will likely take until
summer, Mr. Jacobsen said.
Reckitt Benckiser, which sells Dettol disinfectant products in
addition to Lysol, has increased capacity and simplified its
product line by eliminating some offerings in an effort to meet
demand, a spokeswoman for the U.K.-based company said.
Lysol, in a statement, apologized to customers for not being
able to deliver enough product and said it is working to restock as
quickly as possible. "We are experiencing unprecedented and
accelerated demand," the company said.
Write to Sharon Terlep at sharon.terlep@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 07, 2020 08:14 ET (12:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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