Toothpaste is one of the most dynamic segments of the oral care market. The frequency of product launches in existing segments of the market and genesis of new product segments contributes to continuous evolution of the toothpaste market. Increase in sales of oral hygiene products in major markets worldwide has largely resulted from growing awareness of hygiene and product innovation. Due to the increased use of Pan, Gutka, Sauf, Supari, Niswar and other tobacco items by an overwhelming majority of people in Pakistan, this region is regarded as being among those with highest number of mouth cancer cases in the world” said an eminent dental surgeon at a conference on Oral Diseases Awareness the Remedy that was held during the last year. With the advent of Shisha (Hubbly Bubbly) this ratio has soared as most of the teenagers are smoking it on a daily basis at various up market joints since no age limit is defined for it. In the lower strata of the society the dental treatment is taken only when the pain becomes unbearable or else they would consult a quack only because that is what they can afford. In spite of this according to the 2006 statistics of Pakistan Dental Association, for every thirty four thousand people there is one dentist. Hardly 3% of the people living in urban Pakistan visit their dentists regularly. Owing to lack of awareness among masses oral diseases have assumed an alarming dimension in the country. The oral healthcare in Pakistan is still growing rapidly with awareness amongst masses improving by the day and more and more people are becoming conscious of their dental needs. This was driven by growing consumer awareness about oral hygiene. According to a new Euromonitor report, In Pakistan consumer disposable income is growing, the most frequent purchases are still essentials, such as bar soap and toothpaste. Western trends also stimulated demand for a bigger product variety with different functions. According to the Gallup household Consumer Panel data About 36 per cent of the Pakistani population clean their teeth daily, irrespective of the method employed. Eight per cent of the 120 million populations never clean their teeth, while 54 per cent clean their teeth either on alternate days, weekly or monthly. According to the Gallup household Consumer Panel data the monthly penetration of toothpaste is around 60% in Urban Pakistan while that of tooth powder is around 15% whereas a small percentage of population also uses powder (manjan), linseed (sauf), elaichi, and miswak. These figures show that there is still a lot to cover by the oral care companies. According to a new Euromonitor report, the cosmetics and personal care markets had average annual growth rates of 
14 per cent in Pakistan. Oral care market has following sector: Toothpaste, Toothbrushes, and Mouthwash. Pakistan is the 9th largest market with an estimate 180 million consumers. Tooth brush market size is about 70 to 75 million and has increased about 20 percent in 2000 and 40 percent for next five years. Brand quality is very low for tooth brush but very high for toothpaste brands. In 2002-2007 market for Oral hygiene in Pakistan increased and growing at an average annual rate of 3.4%. But now Oral hygiene had 8% value growth in 2008 to reach value sales of PKR9.6 billion. Toothpaste use is increasing with dynamic rate. The toothpaste market is around 7 billion rupees while the tooth brush and mouth wash markets are 300 million and 85 million rupees respectively. Overall the market has registered a steady increase and more and more companies are emerging new advancements have led to the launch of a variety of high-priced, value-added multifunctional products in several oral care categories such as toothpastes and toothbrushes. Whitening toothpastes and products offering multiple functions are driving growth in the dentifrices segment. The tooth paste industry is one typical model of an oligopoly meaning that it is dominated by a small number of major firms such as Colgate-Palmolive, Procter and Gamble and GlaxoSmithKline(Aqua fresh) (Industry structures 17. 2008. Report). The leading company in the market is Colgate-Palmolive Company. The competition among the different companies have always been ferocious with companies launching new products with new features regularly be it whitening toothpaste, mouth fresheners toothpaste or economic toothpaste. Currently major toothpastes players, averting tooth decay is not sufficient, which usually guarantee benefits such as fresher breath, healthier gums and whiter teeth. Technological advancements in recent years have altered the toothpaste segment to one that offers additional benefits besides just fighting cavities to customers. This made manufacturers to roll out products with a lot of additional features that were not available.
Consume decision-making behavior in toothpaste market:
In toothpaste market the decision-making process for buying toothpaste is commonly regarded as low involvement action, i.e. the consumer is not willing to search for alternatives, purchases the easiest way while buying the familiar brand, and seeks not the optimal but only the satisfactory solution. As low Involvement priority observed while buying toothpaste the consumer might just be a passive receiver of information via television-advertisings or is not an active information seeker. Furthermore consumers have not developed strong brand awareness and in buying process the consumer has certain cognition of the toothpaste he or she wants to buy is a result of advertising or some form of learning, or previous buying experience. At some instant mostly in suburban areas the consumer has only small knowledge about the toothpaste; the decision will be influenced of low price or familiarity of the brand. After the purchase, the buyer will built up an attitude, whether the toothpaste meets his needs and requirements, such as taste or white teeth.
Categories and Competition:
Toothpaste brands are targeted at adults, kids, youth and older youth. Standard toothpaste without whitening effects or bicarbonate of soda is present in the market with cluster of local brands like natural and English toothpaste. Another category of competition in toothpaste includes brands marketed as number in number toothpaste and mouthwash, such as Close-up, Colgate Fresh Energy Gel, Colgate Max Crest Fresh, Aqua fresh. Other brand category serving in toothpaste Bicarbonate of sodas includes Colgate Active Salt, A1, MacLean’s, Forhen’s. and soda white Toothpaste Specialist Includes toothpaste for sensitive teeth, for smokers, and children’s toothpaste includes Doctor Toothpaste, Sensitive, Colgate Kids toothpaste and Sensodyne toothpaste. A different segment of toothpaste serving as denture care toothpaste, which is included in the Denture Care category like Colgate Dental Cream, Medicam. The toothpaste merely focused on teeth whitening are another well known and foremost segment and includes brands like Shield, Sparkle English toothpaste. Cosmetic Toothpaste with a cosmetic effect, including toothpaste with whitening properties, such as Colgate Total plus Whitening toothpaste, herbal, Minto and Misvak toothpaste. The toothpaste brands mention here are categories wise most of them are serving high end to low end in the same category. The nature of problem were for the consumer point of view is same only difference lies in the income level or family size high end of need.
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