Charles Passy
Like many Americans, Kathy Salmanson was frustrated last year when she couldn’t find toilet paper at her local supermarket or elsewhere. “I couldn’t even get anything on Amazon,” recalled the 75-year-old Georgia resident.
But frustration gave way to relief when Salmanson’s son purchased a bidet for her, significantly reducing her reliance on toilet paper. Moreover, Salmanson discovered she actually preferred using a bidet — in her case, a model from Tushy, one of the newer entrants in the market. “It really gets you clean,” she said.
Salmanson’s story is a typical one. During the early days of the pandemic, when supply-chain issues and panic buying resulted in shortages of toilet paper , bidet companies saw a notable uptick in demand, with several reporting tenfold increases in sales.
Now, more than a year later, these companies say sales have declined from that peak but are still much higher than before the pandemic. And demand is getting yet another boost with a new wave of toilet-paper shortages, some companies say. Last month, Costco /zigman2/quotes/201191698/composite COST +4.26% announced it would have to resume rationing the household staple .
Moreover, the bidet companies say the toilet-paper shortages may have sparked a more permanent restroom revolution, with Americans finally embracing a bathroom fixture that is common in parts of Europe and Asia, where they have long been common built-in fixtures.
In short, the bidet boom is no longer a mere byproduct of the pandemic, said Miki Agrawal, Tushy’s founder and chief creative officer. “It’s absolutely a culture-shifting thing,” she said.
The U.S. market remains a prime one for bidet manufacturers to target because there’s plenty more room for sales growth, even after the boom of the past 18 months. Steven Scheer, president of Brondell, a company that makes bidets and other products, says at least 85% of U.S. homes lack a bidet, based on proprietary research. Others in the industry put the percentage higher.
The obvious appeal of the bidet is the cleanliness factor that customers such as Salmanson cite. Manufacturers say once consumers are persuaded to try a bidet, there’s almost no going back to toilet paper, other than using it as a last step, post-bidet use. “When we get a customer, it’s a customer for life,” said Scheer.
Product innovation has also made bidets more appealing and affordable. If you think of bidets strictly in terms of the freestanding, plumbed, wash-basin-style — fixtures that typically next to a toilet — you are decades behind the times. While such models still exist, these days manufacturers are promoting add-on bidets — gizmos that attach to a toilet seat or replace the seat and perform the traditional bidet cleansing function. In their simplest form, they can run less than $100, though more fanciful electronic versions, some with heating elements, can easily top $500.
Those with bigger budgets can buy a whole tricked-out toilet with a built-in bidet. These models, which are especially popular in Japan, can cost up to $10,000, according to James Lin, an executive with BidetKing.com, a retailer that sells many makes of bidets, including its own Alpha brand. (Kitakyushu-based Toto /zigman2/quotes/205422705/composite TOTDY +0.52% has been an innovator in the bidet’s new wave .)
Even before the pandemic, a factor driving bidet sales has been concern for the environment. By curbing reliance on toilet paper, bidets effectively promote a more sustainable way of life — one that doesn’t require chopping down countless trees to produce bathroom tissue, bidet manufacturers assert. The toilet-paper issue has also been raised by environmental activists — or, to quote the headline on a blog post from the Natural Resources Defense Council, “Toilet Paper Is Driving the Climate Crisis with Every Flush.”
What’s key to the bidet boom, manufacturers and retailers say, is marketing the product with a degree of honesty and humor. In other words, there’s no hiding behind — pun intended — what a bidet is about.
To that end, Omigo, another relatively new bidet company, has put out a series of comical videos, including one with a Crocodile Dundee–style character who touts that the bidet is “perfect for taking good care of your down-unders.”
Thomas Lotrecchiano, one of the company’s founders, thinks such an approach is only natural. “Poop is inherently funny,” he said. “You’re going to have to make jokes about washing your butt.”
Add to watchlist
COST
Add to watchlist
TOTDY
