All the time merchandise are displayed on a shelf in a grocery store in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina October 29, 2024.
Dado Ruvic | Reuters
Rising inflation and ever-changing tariff insurance policies have led to increased costs throughout retailer cabinets over the previous few years, squeezing customers’ budgets.
An typically neglected instance: menstrual merchandise.
The typical value of menstrual merchandise, together with sanitary pads and tampons, has risen almost 40% since 2020, from roughly $5.37 per unit to $7.43 per unit, in keeping with February information from Chicago-based market analysis agency Circana.
Greenback gross sales from menstrual merchandise have grown by almost 30% over that very same interval, in keeping with Circana.
However on the similar time, gross sales of menstrual merchandise — which broadly consists of pads, tampons, liners and extra — have seen a roughly 6% lower since 2022, falling incrementally annually, in keeping with information from NielsenIQ.
The info analytics firm famous that gadgets throughout the shop have seen common unit value will increase, with the greenback quantity of client packaged items at giant rising 2.7% year-to-date. These value will increase are according to climbing inflation, with the newest client value index in February displaying a 2.4% annual rise.
The newest CPI information discovered that inflation in private care merchandise within the U.S. has jumped dramatically, up 22.1% in February from January 2020.
However as a result of menstrual merchandise are a necessity for a big portion of the inhabitants, these prices could also be hurting customers.
“I do assume that we’re at a degree the place customers on the whole are having to decide on whether or not they should buy meals for his or her household, or purchase prescriptions for his or her household. Some issues that we do sometimes outline as a necessity, individuals are discovering alternate options for or going with out,” stated Sarah Broyd, a companion with consultancy agency Clarkston Consulting.
Broyd stated the hole between increased costs and declining gross sales reveals customers could also be trying to find alternate options out of necessity.
Menstrual merchandise have not simply been hit by inflation, both. In accordance with authorities information, the U.S. collected $115 million by way of tariffs on menstrual merchandise containing cotton in 2025, in contrast with simply $42 million in 2020.
The U.S. imported the vast majority of its menstrual merchandise from Canada, China and Mexico in 2024, in keeping with the World Financial institution. President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs on all three of these international locations at various ranges over the previous 12 months.
These added prices come on prime of the so-called “pink tax,” the place some states place a gross sales tax on menstrual merchandise. In accordance with 2025 information from Statista, Tennessee, Mississippi and Indiana have the highest gross sales tax on menstrual merchandise at 7%. Merchandise which are deemed “medical units” are sometimes excluded from gross sales taxes.
‘A subscription service to be a girl’
For 30-year-old Dafna Diamant, the rising value of menstrual merchandise has grow to be noticeable on the money register and a drag on her month-to-month bills.
The New York resident stated she’s seen her ordinary pack of roughly 18 tampons rise to someplace round $25, particularly over the previous 12 months.
“It is loopy, and it simply appears like as a girl, you need to pay generally $50 each couple months,” Diamant informed CNBC. “And for some folks, it takes a toll on the earnings.”
Diamant stated she feels notably annoyed as a result of it isn’t a month-to-month expense she will go with out. She typically buys store-brand interval merchandise at retailers like CVS and Walgreens, but she stated she’s nonetheless shocked by the sticker value.
“It nonetheless appears like a subscription service to be a girl,” Diamant informed CNBC. “It’s important to pay each month to be fertile.”
Even bigger firms have felt the results. Procter & Gamble, the dad or mum firm of menstrual product model All the time, stated in July that it was elevating costs on 25% of its private care and family merchandise because of a $1 billion complete annual tariff affect. It manufactures its All the time merchandise throughout services in Maine, Utah and Canada, in keeping with the corporate.
P&G declined to remark for this story.
Kimberly-Clark, the maker of menstrual product model Kotex, stated on an earnings name in April that the corporate incurred a complete of $300 million in gross prices from tariffs, with greater than half of that associated to tariffs on China. The corporate didn’t reply to CNBC’s requests for remark.
Broyd, the companion at Clarkston Consulting, stated menstrual merchandise have been hit with a “triple whammy” of rising uncooked materials prices, inflation throughout vitality and provide chains, and cross-border friction from tariffs.
“When you consider plastic and pulp and a number of the essential elements of female care merchandise, they’re largely most likely coming from abroad after which getting hit with that rather more of tariffs,” Broyd stated.
She added that these tariffs are on prime of already alleged increased levies on different girls’s merchandise, the topic of Congress’ Pink Tariffs Examine Act launched final 12 months by Democrats to find out whether or not the U.S. tariff system is “regressive” or has a “gender bias.”
As costs proceed to shoot up, Broyd stated she believes firms will proceed to reevaluate their portfolios and doubtlessly dump their female care segments to concentrate on companies with increased margins. In November, Edgewell Private Care offered its female care enterprise to an organization in Sweden for $340 million.
“You are seeing these extra area of interest, extra startup sort manufacturers which are popping up in shops. … That is the most important development,” Broyd stated. “Those who have the flexibility to flex up and purchase extra natural or merchandise that they belief, they will spend that value premium. However for different customers that do not have the discretionary earnings to do this, they will commerce down and go non-public label, or go with out.”
The rise of reusables
Diamant stated she and her mates at the moment are making an attempt interval underwear as a substitute of single-use merchandise to streamline their bills.
A rising variety of folks have been making an attempt reusable interval merchandise, primarily as a result of they’re environmentally pleasant and cheaper.
Main producers have typically relied on model loyalty for his or her merchandise, which may take successful if customers flip to alternate options.
“For those who’re in fem care, you are going to be utilizing Kotex for 40 years. For those who’re in Rely, you are going to be utilizing Rely for 40 years, proper?” Kimberly-Clark CEO Michael Hsu stated on a November earnings name. “There may be long-duration frequency. There’s numerous expenditure for customers, and so due to that, they need to have an ongoing relation with us.”
Saalt, a reusable interval merchandise firm providing cups, discs and underwear, stated it estimates that 16% to twenty% of U.S. customers have tried or used reusable menstrual merchandise, consisting of largely youthful customers.
“Affordability is big,” CEO Cherie Hoeger informed CNBC. “Whenever you take a look at our product, a cup or disc can final 10 years, and our product is simply within the $30 value vary. … They’re in a position to save as much as $1,800 on the lifespan of that cup or disc, and that is on the low finish.”
Saalt, which launched in 2018, hit revenues of eight figures in its third 12 months of enterprise, Hoeger stated. The corporate declined to reveal particulars of its financials, however she stated demand has grown year-over-year because it launched.
Amongst Technology Z, Hoeger stated the highest motive for switching to reusables is pricing.
“They often have some affinity towards sustainability and local weather change, nevertheless it’s by no means their primary,” Hoeger stated.
The rise of reusables could also be contributing to the declining gross sales of single-use interval merchandise over the previous few years. It additionally coincides with current research indicating that tampons may include lead or different dangerous components. The Meals and Drug Administration investigated the presence of metals and decided there was no threat.
Using that momentum, different firms like Knix, MeLuna, Flex and extra have entered the reusables house and garnered rising market share as customers seek for alternate options.
“Affordability is the crux; it is the foundation drawback,” Hoeger stated. “With out affordability for these interval merchandise, you’ve gotten actual financial penalties for girls to occur.”