Interesting observations on Huggies Pull-Ups (warning: conspiracy theories ahead)

[thegamer408]

To begin, I don't want to start an argument about how adults can't fit into these diapers. This isn't about that.

I recently bought a pack of 3T-4T Night-Time Pull-Ups, and I noticed that they were noticeably less thick than I remember them being. Comparing them to my 3T-4T Cool and Learn Pull-Ups, they are the exact same thickness as the regular ones. They also feel less absorbent.

Now, this got me thinking, has KC gimped their Night-Time Pull-Ups to encourage sales of GoodNites? It would make sense, considering that the XS GoodNites overlap with the 3T-4T NightTime Pull-Ups, and that they make more profit off the GoodNites. This would also be the reason why there aren't any 4T-5T NightTime Pull-Ups, because KC knows that they would cannibalize GoodNites S/M sales. Who knows, I might be crazy to suggest this, but it just seems strange to me.

What are your thoughts on this? I'd love to know.

 

[BigKid25]

It's possible. I don't have any experience with toddler pull ups as an adult so I can't definitively say. Could simply be they're cutting corners and costs if it's not selling as well. Which means your theory would need to be tweaked to be a correlation rather than a causation (i.e. the goodnites are already selling well enough so they don't get affected. The overnight pull ups don't sell as well, but they sell enough to warrant them still being on shelves. However, cutting production costs could be beneficial in its own right.)

In this case, the consumers and the resulting numbers are what's actually driving the decrease in quality rather than the company trying to manipulate sales.

 

[fakename]

Certainly could be possible. I liked the 3t-4t overnight pullups I had, and have one left in my stash. I do have to wonder if they have much of a commercial purpose though. Maybe the thinking on them is they're for parents who regularly check their sleeping toddlers for wetness, since these are easier to tear at the sides, and re-fasten? Still though, why not just use Goodnites XS or S/M? Huggies brand has the Overnights which are super absorbent, so you'd think they'd just put that in a pullup and call it a day. I think you're probably right that they cannibalize sales, there's some product overlap going on.

 

[CaterpillarSick]

It would make sense, considering that the XS GoodNites overlap with the 3T-4T NightTime Pull-Ups, and that they make more profit off the GoodNites.

How do you know they make more off of the GoodNites than Pull-ups? Also they have so much competition from other manufacturers, so would it make any sense to hobble one line that has proven sales in order to try to increase sales of a potential alternative?

This is probably another case of value engineering. They’ve decreased the core to only just be enough in order to drive down costs.

 

[thegamer408]

How do you know they make more off of the GoodNites than Pull-ups? Also they have so much competition from other manufacturers, so would it make any sense to hobble one line that has proven sales in order to try to increase sales of a potential alternative?

This is probably another case of value engineering. They’ve decreased the core to only just be enough in order to drive down costs.

To be honest, I don't know that they make more of off either Pull-Ups or GoodNites, I'm just going by the price per unit.

Prices from Amazon US:
NightTime 3T-4T Pull-Ups (60 ct.)
Price - $26.49 ($0.44 per diaper)

GoodNites XS (44 ct.)
Price - $27.99 ($0.64 per diaper)

As you can see, the Goodnites sell for roughly 20 cents more than the Pull-Ups do, but I don't know the exact production costs or the amount that is considered profit.

As I was saying, just a random thought that I had and wanted to share. I never said it was coherent or logical :/

 

[Fangs]

thing is you can get T5 pull-ups in some places not all stores carry them, they fit up to 10 year olds in size

 

[Sam]

Huggies advertised that Pull-Ups are for potty training, GoodNites are for bedwetters.
Kids who need potty training are bedwetters for sure, but not the other way around.
So in terms of consumer population, Pull-Ups has larger consumer group than GoodNites. But I agree that "Night-time" Pull-Ups do seem a bit redundant under presence of GoodNites.
KC may or more not see this as a problem, if they do, and wish the consumers to shift towards GoodNites, I don't think they'll be using such derogatory measure to manipulate product sale bias...it puts the brand's reputation at risk if consumers found out the decline in product quality, consumers may just dump the brand as a whole instead of shifting to GoodNites.
If what you claim is true (that absorbency decreased), I'd say its more of a design decision to sacrifice some absorbency for a slimmer pull-up which resembles underwear better.

 

[KaleidoscopeKitty]

I recently bought some Pampers Baby Dry and was surprised at how thin they were. However, they were full of SAP which meant when wet they absorb a lot and have a much higher capacity than they first appeared. They swelled up a lot once wet so just because the night time pull-ups are thin doesn’t mean they aren’t absorbent. Thin/ discreet is one of the features people are often looking for in pull-ups so it makes sense for diaper companies to use lots of SAP rather than fluff to create a product which starts off very thin and makes people feel they’re discreet.

I really don’t think that it is usual practise for a company to make a bad product to try and encourage purchase of another one in their range so I don’t see why KC would purposefully make Night Time pull-ups a poor product. It looks bad on their whole company/ brand if a product in their range gets a load of bad reviews and if parents can’t trust Huggies brand night pull-ups I don’t see why they’d turn to Huggies brand Goodnites - I’d assume if one overnight pull-up didn’t offer enough absorbency then other similar products in their range wouldn’t either.

I believe night-time pull ups and Goodnites are marketed towards a different set of parents/ kids. Pull-Ups are for kids who are currently in the process of potty training and are neither reliably dry day or night, but are learning to use the potty. Goodnites are marketed for kids who are potty trained by day but still wet the bed at night, despite some efforts to help them to be dry. I don’t think parents of toddlers who aren’t yet fully potty trained would consider their children ‘bedwetters’ since they’re not reliably dry in the day yet either so I don’t think KC is thinking those parents would buy pull-ups by day and goodnites by night. Presumably they’ve created Night Time Pull-Ups to target the parents of potty training kids with a new product (that they can charge slightly more for compared to regular pull-ups) because they saw a gap in the market for nighttime protection for potty trainers that neither overnight nappies for those yet to be trained or goodnites for those trained by day but wetters by night was filling.

 

[babyjoe698]

A few years ago they had ads saying when they are to big for pull ups get Goodnites

 

[CatboyMiles99]

Here's what the new leaf variant looks like