Only a small selection of Colgate SKUs remained amid empty shelves at a Tesco Extra visited by The Grocer

Colgate, the UK’s biggest toothpaste brand, has almost entirely disappeared from Tesco.

The brand’s full range of more than 70 SKUs are listed as out of stock on the retailer’s website - and have been absent for over a week, Assosia data reveals [6 w/e 7 February 2022].

Entire shelves which would have been dedicated to the brand have been left empty

And though a small selection of Colgate goods were still on shelves at Tesco’s Crawley Extra store, which The Grocer visited, the majority of its SKUs were nowhere to be found. Entire shelves that would have been dedicated to the brand were left empty.

SKUs from Colgate sister brand Palmolive were also absent.

Colgate declined to comment when approached by The Grocer.

However, a tweet from Tesco’s account to a customer said Colgate’s products had been removed due to a “supplier issue”. 

A second tweet to a customer said Colgate Original toothpastes “have not been discontinued however aren’t currently being ranged at our stores”.

A Tesco spokesman told The Grocer the retailer hoped “to have a full range of Colgate products available for customers again soon” but “in the meantime, we continue to have strong availability across all the other oral care products in our range”.

The news comes on the back of a disappointing year in the mults for the brand: its sales were down 4% to £189.5m over the 52 weeks to 11 September 2021 – a decline of £7.9m [NielsenIQ].

It wasn’t alone in its struggles, though. The wider toothpaste category saw its sales drop 2.1% (£8.9m) over the same period [Nielsen IQ].

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