Su Le Hou Mingyu, a special correspondent for time Weekly.

With the ups and downs of the global economy, business is difficult for all companies, but the established daily chemical giantsProcter & Gamble Co(Procter & Gamble) handed in the best report card in 14 years.

On July 30th, Procter & Gamble Co announced his financial results for the fourth quarter and the whole fiscal year of the 2020 fiscal year ending June 30. In the fourth quarter, Procter & Gamble Co's sales rose 4 percent year-on-year to $17.7 billion (about 123.9 billion yuan), while its net profit reached $2.8 billion (about 19.6 billion yuan), according to the financial report. Procter & Gamble Co turned a loss into a profit this quarter compared with the same period last year. Not only that, Procter & Gamble Co achieved sales of $71 billion (about 497 billion yuan) this fiscal year, an increase of 5% over the previous year, the strongest annual sales growth since 2006.

In this regard, Procter & Gamble Co executives believe that the epidemic has completely changed the living habits of consumers. Procter & Gamble Co's performance was boosted by people spending more time at home and consuming more paper towels and cleaning products.

"overall, consumer demand has changed forever," said Jon Moeller, Procter & Gamble Co's chief operating officer and chief financial officer. "it's hard to imagine us going back to the world we were yesterday."

Commodity sales are ferocious

The factory in Pennsylvania was one of the most important factories during Procter & Gamble Co's epidemic. The plant is located in a small town called Mehoopany Township, which is far away from the bustling big city and is not affected by the epidemic.

Mehopani's factory employs about 2200 people, each of whom takes a strict temperature check during work, maintains a strict distance, and communicates through headphones and videophones. There are long queues of trucks outside Mehopani's factory, waiting to load Procter & Gamble Co's products to various places.

"during the outbreak, neighbors often stopped me on my way to and from work and jokingly asked me, 'can you get us some Charmin toilet paper,'" said Jose de los Rios, a worker at the factory.

Consumer habits are changing: people have to do their own washing and cooking because they stay at home for a long time, and people are much more enthusiastic about household cleaning because of health and hygiene problems.

Procter & Gamble Co's sales of home care products increased by more than 30 per cent this quarter compared with the same period last year. The production and sales of Procter & Gamble Co's daily necessities are "more important than ever", says Jon Moeller.

At the same time, another part of Procter & Gamble Co's business is suffering.

Similar sales in Procter & Gamble Co's beauty department fell 1% this quarter, while beauty category grew by only 1%, with weak sales of Gillette razors and SK-II cosmetics. Analysts believe that this is due to the fact that many workplaces are closed and people are unable to socialize, so the demand for shaving and beauty has also dropped sharply. Due to the temporary closure of dental clinics, professional oral care business is not ideal. By contrast, health care and home care increased by 9% and 7%, respectively.

Fall and rebirth

For this established consumer brand, which has been at a disadvantage in recent years, the current epidemic crisis is a rare opportunity to turn around.

Procter & Gamble Co was actually born in the economic crisis of the United States.

In 1837, William William Procter, an American candle maker, and James Gamble, a soap maker, set up a consumer goods factory in Cincinnati.

This year, the US economy was very volatile, and the economic panic lasted for six years, but Procter & Gamble Co managed to avoid the crisis. It became a daily supplier to the Union Army during the American Civil War and developed rapidly.

In its more than 100-year history, it has created many global brands unparalleled, such as Ivory Soap in 1879, Crisco shortening in 1912, Tide in 1946, Crest in 1955, Pampers in 1961, Bounce softener in 1972, Dawn detergent in 1973, Always sanitary napkins in 1983, Febreze fragrance and Swiffer mop in 1998. In addition, Procter & Gamble Co has acquired many big brands, such as Gillette and Pantene.

Procter & Gamble Co's concept of management is also famous all over the world.General Electric Co(General Electric) former CEO Jeff Immelt (Jeff Immelt),Microsoft Corp(Microsoft) former CEO Steve Ballmer (Steve Ballmer). The company also took the lead in using market research in the 1920s. Even the word soap opera gets its name from Procter & Gamble Co.

In recent years, however, the industry's benchmark has gradually lost its luster. Whether in emerging markets or in Europe and the United States, Procter & Gamble Co's response to the market is too slow, the performance is not satisfactory, and the market share of his products in many countries around the world has also declined to varying degrees.

The worst moment could come in fiscal year 2016, when Procter & Gamble Co had sales of $65.3 billion and a profit of $13.4 billion, less than even a decade ago in fiscal year 2006, when Procter & Gamble Co had annual sales of $68.2 billion and a profit of $13.9 billion.

In response, the Financial Times criticised Procter & Gamble Co's culture as too narrow and closed and the bureaucracy in the company's internal procedures too strong. Although the company has also proposed layoffs and streamlining plans, the result is still round after round of mediocre performance.

Consumer Edge Research analyst Javier Escalante (Javier Escalante) commented: "Procter & Gamble Co is doing the same business, spending more, but in fact, the so-called innovation is still the same old, should not consider a different approach?" Mark Mark Astrachan, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus, said: "[Procter & Gamble Co] spending is up while growth is falling."

Dean Crutchfield, a brand consultant, said Procter & Gamble Co's marketing methods were too traditional and the Procter & Gamble Co brand did not really promote creativity. It's too old-school. "

The outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic made Procter & Gamble Co Company gradually recover from the tepid situation for many years. But people concerned warn that no one knows how long this timely boom will last. Analysts believe the company's performance is likely to fluctuate in the coming months given the soaring global unemployment rate and the collapse of thousands of distributors that are vital to the company.

As for fiscal year 2021, Jon Moeller says the next step in business operations may still be affected by the epidemic. If global cases continue to grow at a high speed, stricter global blockades and traffic restrictions will bring more difficulties to Procter & Gamble Co's business.

The company expects overall sales to grow by 1 per cent in fiscal 2021 and earnings to grow by 6 per cent and 10 per cent. Procter & Gamble Co's revenue will remain strong in the first two quarters of fiscal 2021 due to strong sales of cleaning products, but sales will return to normal in the last two quarters of fiscal 2021.

As for the future, David Taylor, Procter & Gamble Co chief executive, said: "We want to grow in this crisis and become stronger after the crisis."