From February 16 to 20 local time, Procter & Gamble, the world's largest fast-moving consumer goods company, presented at the New York Consumer Analyst Group conference, one of the most influential top-tier investor events in the global consumer goods industry.

At the conference, Shailesh Jejurikar, the new CEO of Procter & Gamble who took office just this January and is also the company's first CEO of Indian origin, made his debut speech. He publicly outlined his latest strategic vision for Procter & Gamble's future development for the first time. A 37-year veteran of the company, Jejurikar has held positions in India, ASEAN, North America, and other regions, contributing across both developed and developing markets and multiple business segments. Prior to his current role, he served as Procter & Gamble's Chief Operating Officer.

Last month's disclosed results for Procter & Gamble's Q2 of fiscal year 2026 revealed a 1% increase in net sales. This steady yet slowing growth underscores the resilience of the 189-year-old corporate giant, which has an annual sales scale nearing 580 billion yuan, in navigating economic cycles. However, it also highlights the increasing difficulty of achieving expansion through organic volume growth amid a complex global economic environment.

At this juncture, Shailesh Jejurikar has assumed a significant responsibility. In his speech, he highlighted three major changes currently facing Procter & Gamble: media fragmentation, inflation, and the transformation of the retail landscape. He proposed "reinventing" the company, stating that "urgent interventions" have already been initiated. Jejurikar emphasized that Procter & Gamble must become more focused and efficient.

With well-known brands such as SK-II, Tide, Pampers, Whisper, Safeguard, Head & Shoulders, Pantene, Rejoice, Crest, and Olay, Procter & Gamble achieved global net sales of $84.3 billion (approximately 578.8 billion yuan) in fiscal year 2025, essentially flat compared to the previous fiscal year. Organic sales, which exclude impacts from acquisitions, divestitures, and foreign exchange, grew by 2%.

Despite reaching a record high in sales, the situation is mixed for Procter & Gamble. Data disclosed by Procter & Gamble's CFO, Andre Schulten, at the conference showed a gradual decline in the company's organic sales growth rate in recent years. It decreased from 6-7% between fiscal years 2020 and 2023, to 4% in FY2024, 2% in FY2025, and 1% in the first half of FY2026.

"The headwinds in the first half of FY2026 were primarily concentrated in the U.S. market. Outside the U.S., sales grew or accelerated in almost all regions. Organic sales in key markets, including Europe, the U.S., and East Asia, were flat, while sales in other markets grew by 3%," Andre Schulten acknowledged. He further admitted, "Recent data fully reflects underlying trends: weak consumer markets, intense competition, and a complex geopolitical environment."

In his subsequent remarks, Shailesh Jejurikar reiterated the market challenges confronting Procter & Gamble: "In our operating environment, I want to highlight three important changes."

The first is media fragmentation. "Capturing consumer attention and making them aware of our brands' benefits is much harder than before. In today's fragmented media landscape, consumers have more sources of information and more ways to engage or disengage," Jejurikar recalled. "A decade ago, when I was in the North American fabric care business, we could achieve about 30% consumer awareness for a new product within 6 to 12 months. Today, that figure might only be in the high single digits. This is a significant change and challenge for every marketer in every industry."

The second change is inflation in food, energy, healthcare, and many other spending categories. "This is taking a toll on consumers. Even affluent consumers are becoming more cautious with their spending. The way consumers assess product affordability and value will continue to evolve."

The third change is the retail landscape. "Consumers are shopping in different ways, utilizing avenues like AI and instant retail. In the U.S., channels such as e-commerce and club stores are growing exponentially, while traditional channels are consolidating. Furthermore, retailers are becoming media platforms, and media platforms are becoming retailers. In short, the consumer purchase path is changing daily; it's non-linear and filled with millions of potential disruptions."

Consequently, to address market changes and performance challenges, Procter & Gamble has initiated "urgent interventions." According to Shailesh Jejurikar's statements at the conference, this is part of a "long-term reinvention" of the company.

He shared, "The first intervention we are taking is to build deeper, more complete connections with consumers. 'The consumer is boss' is not just a slogan but a belief that has shaped generations at Procter & Gamble. Our opportunity now is to apply this belief end-to-end with greater consistency and precision. Every decision we make must be grounded in consumer acceptance, so we need to deliver superior consumer experiences at every touchpoint."

Jejurikar cited the innovation of the Pampers diaper brand in China as an example: "Addressing the mindset of Chinese parents who want the best for their children, the Procter & Gamble team launched the Pampers Premium Care 'Black Gold' series. Drawing inspiration from China's 2,000-year-old silk culture, they incorporated silk-like elements into the diaper, conveying a premium feel through unique packaging texture."

"Redesigning the super-premium series for Pampers has driven double-digit organic sales growth in the Greater China baby care division over the past 18 months, with market share increasing by nearly 3 percentage points. This division has become one of the first at Procter & Gamble to achieve leapfrog transformation and lead growth in the premium and super-premium segments," he stated.

The second intervention involves transforming the approach to brand building, focusing on building consumer recognition of advertisements, driving consumer engagement, and reducing the time and steps from exposure to purchase. Using examples like the Pantene brand's innovation in Brazil and growth in the U.S. personal care sector, he analyzed: "A key reason for their success was early adaptation to the changing media environment, significantly increasing the use of influencers and user-generated content (UGC), and leveraging AI to optimize advertising creativity and media placement."

The third intervention is to establish comprehensive partnerships with retailers across the entire value chain. Procter & Gamble is moving beyond the traditional vendor role, leveraging partnerships to grow the business collaboratively. For instance, collaborating with Walmart to offer exclusive products, activating traffic through the Walmart app and broader social media, thereby making the end-to-end value chain more efficient.

Large corporations often face the challenge of being slow to adapt. Confronting issues associated with large-company bureaucracy, Procter & Gamble, with its portfolio of nearly 80 brands across 10 categories, is embarking on a "slimming down" process.

In mid-2025, Procter & Gamble began a two-year restructuring plan aimed at expanding its strengths and mitigating cost challenges. The plan includes a global workforce reduction of approximately 7,000 positions, representing about 15% of non-manufacturing roles. It may also involve exiting certain product categories, brands, or product forms in specific markets. Previously, in 2024, Procter & Gamble sold the VS Sassoon brand and divested several smaller brands in Europe and Latin America.

At this analyst conference, Shailesh Jejurikar continued Procter & Gamble's established strategy of "focus" but introduced his own new proposition: "stronger core & bigger more."

This represents a combined offensive and defensive strategy. On the defensive side, Procter & Gamble requires a stronger core. Jejurikar analyzed: "One of Procter & Gamble's biggest assets is our portfolio of leading brands and products, which form the core of our business. We need to ensure these core products and brands are healthy and growing. This strategy is more efficient for reaching and converting consumers in an era of fragmented attention. For example, it is crucial in channels with limited assortments like club stores, or on e-commerce platforms where consumers often only browse the first two pages of search results."

In the current algorithm-driven era, the Matthew effect in online retail is increasingly pronounced, where only the top-performing products with the highest click-through and repurchase rates thrive. In the Chinese market, Procter & Gamble's core power products include SK-II's "Facial Treatment Essence," Olay's "Light Perfecting Essence," Pampers "Black Gold" diapers, and Whisper's "Infinicel" sanitary pads. Through continuous product upgrades and channel penetration, these brands maintain stable household repurchase rates, forming the foundation for cash flow.

On the offensive side, bigger innovation is needed. "When we create something new to meet emerging consumer needs, the market addressed by this innovation must be large enough to justify the significant investment in marketing and distribution." This indicates that Procter & Gamble is not merely resting on its laurels but aims to spend resources wisely, ensuring innovation is efficient, precise, and reduces redundancy and waste. This is not just a temporary measure to address growth pressures but a necessary choice for a giant like Procter & Gamble to maintain its leading edge in an era of competition for market share.

"External market changes present both short-term challenges and long-term opportunities. Although the pace of change is significant, and we expect it to intensify over the next 3 to 5 years, we will ultimately adapt and overcome these disruptions," Shailesh Jejurikar concluded.