P&G's New CEO on Pricing, Brand Loyalty, and AI Strategy
Procter & Gamble chief Shailesh Jejurikar discusses rising costs, consumer price limits, and how AI shapes the company's competitive edge.
Procter & Gamble's newly installed chief executive, Shailesh Jejurikar, is navigating one of the consumer goods industry's most persistent tensions: how much price pressure households will absorb before abandoning trusted brands for cheaper alternatives. In a wide-ranging conversation with The New York Times, Jejurikar laid out how the company weighs cost increases against the loyalty its flagship products have built over decades.
The company, whose portfolio spans Tide detergent, Pampers diapers, and Gillette razors, has leaned heavily on brand strength to justify premium pricing in recent years. But with inflation lingering and shoppers increasingly scrutinizing every line item on their grocery bills, that calculus is becoming more complicated. Jejurikar acknowledged that not every cost increase can simply be pushed downstream to consumers without consequence.
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On the question of which costs get absorbed internally and which are passed along, the CEO indicated that P&G looks carefully at input cost movements — raw materials, energy, and logistics — before making pricing decisions. The goal, he suggested, is to protect both margin and market share, a balance that becomes harder to strike as economic uncertainty persists for lower- and middle-income households.
Artificial intelligence featured prominently in Jejurikar's vision for the company's future competitiveness. He described AI as a tool that helps P&G sharpen everything from supply chain efficiency to consumer targeting, potentially allowing the company to manage costs in ways that reduce the pressure to raise prices as frequently. The comments reflect a broader industry push to use AI operationally rather than merely as a marketing novelty.
Whether brand loyalty proves durable enough to sustain P&G's pricing strategy in a still-uncertain economic environment remains an open question for investors and consumers alike. Continue reading at NYT > Business.
