The Illusion of Choice: How Category Consolidation Limits What You Actually Buy

Fifty Options, Three Companies

Stand in the laundry detergent aisle of any American supermarket and you will see dozens of options. Pods, liquids, powders, scent-boosters, stain removers, delicates formulas. The variety seems endless. But pick up nearly any bottle and check the fine print: the vast majority are made by Procter & Gamble or Unilever.

This pattern repeats in virtually every consumer category. The ice cream freezer, the pet food aisle, the beer cooler, the toothpaste shelf. What looks like a marketplace bursting with independent options is, in reality, a carefully managed portfolio of brands owned by a small number of corporations.

This is category consolidation, and it shapes nearly every purchase you make.

What Is Category Consolidation?

Category consolidation occurs when a small number of companies acquire or develop enough brands to control a majority of a product category. The result is a market where the appearance of competition far exceeds the reality.

How concentrated are major consumer categories?

In some categories, the dominance is even more extreme. P&G's Gillette alone holds over 50% of the U.S. razor market. Colgate-Palmolive controls approximately 40% of the global toothpaste market.

How Consolidation Happens

Phase 1: Organic Growth

A company builds a successful brand in a category. P&G launches Tide in 1946 and grows it into America's best-selling detergent.

Phase 2: Brand Extensions

The company creates new brands targeting different segments within the same category. P&G adds Gain (scent-focused), Dreft (baby-safe), and Era (budget) to its laundry portfolio.

Phase 3: Acquisitions

The company acquires competitors or complementary brands. When a promising new brand emerges, the dominant player buys it rather than competing. P&G acquired Native (natural deodorant) in 2017 and Billie (women's razors) in 2021.

Phase 4: Consolidation Lock-in

With enough brands in a category, the company commands dominant shelf space, negotiating power with retailers, and advertising scale that makes it nearly impossible for truly independent brands to compete at scale.

The Supermarket Aisle: A Case Study

Walk down the cleaning products aisle of a typical American grocery store. Here is what you will actually find:

• Tide, Gain, Dreft, Era (laundry)
• Dawn, Cascade (dish care)
• Swiffer, Mr. Clean (surface cleaning)
• Febreze (air freshener)
• Bounty (paper towels)
• Charmin (toilet paper)

• Seventh Generation (eco cleaning)
• All (laundry)
• Snuggle (fabric softener)

• OxiClean, Arm & Hammer (laundry, cleaning)

• Persil, All (laundry, in some markets)

• Clorox, Pine-Sol, Glad (cleaning, bags)

That is five companies controlling the vast majority of an aisle that appears to offer dozens of independent options. The brightly colored packages and distinct brand personalities mask the underlying corporate concentration.

The Pet Food Illusion

The pet food aisle is one of the most consolidated in the supermarket:

• Purina ONE, Purina Pro Plan, Fancy Feast, Friskies, Beneful, Dog Chow, Cat Chow, Tidy Cats, Beyond

• Pedigree, Royal Canin, IAMS, Eukanuba, Sheba, Temptations, Cesar, Nutro

• Hill's Science Diet, Hill's Prescription Diet

Together, Nestle and Mars control roughly 65% of the U.S. pet food market. When you switch from Purina to IAMS thinking you are trying a different company, you are moving from Nestle to Mars. Both are massive corporations.

How Companies Maintain the Illusion

Distinct Brand Identities

Each brand has its own logo, color scheme, packaging design, and marketing voice. Dove looks and feels nothing like AXE, even though both are Unilever brands. This separation is intentional. Consumers who reject one brand identity may embrace another from the same parent.

Targeted Price Points

Companies create "good-better-best" pricing ladders within categories. In coffee, Nestle offers Nescafe Classic (value), Nescafe Dolce Gusto (mid-range), and Nespresso (premium). A consumer trading up stays within Nestle's portfolio.

Shelf Space Dominance

Retailers allocate shelf space based on sales data and slotting fees. A company with 5 brands in a category can negotiate for 5x the shelf space of a single-brand competitor, effectively crowding out smaller players.

Marketing Differentiation

Even when products are functionally similar, marketing creates perceived differences. Two shampoos with nearly identical ingredients can be positioned as "salon-professional" versus "everyday care," commanding different prices and attracting different consumers, all while generating profit for the same parent company.

The Beer Cooler Reality

The beer industry illustrates consolidation vividly. AB InBev alone owns over 500 beer brands worldwide, from Budweiser to Stella Artois to Goose Island craft beer. Add Heineken, Molson Coors, and Constellation Brands, and four corporations control the majority of the global beer market.

The craft beer movement provided some counterweight, but even that has been partially absorbed: AB InBev acquired Goose Island, Elysian, and other craft breweries. Heineken bought Lagunitas. Many beers that look independent are corporate-owned.

Does Consolidation Hurt Consumers?

The effects are nuanced:

• Reduced real competition can lead to higher prices over time
• Innovation may slow when dominant players face less competitive pressure
• Quality control issues may arise as companies prioritize efficiency over craftsmanship
• Consumer data concentration gives a few companies enormous insight into purchasing behavior

• Scale efficiencies can lower production costs
• Portfolio diversity means consumers do get real variety in formulations and price points
• R&D investment from large companies can fund product improvements
• Supply chain reliability ensures consistent product availability

What Regulators Are Doing

Antitrust regulators have become increasingly attentive to consumer goods consolidation:

• The FTC blocked Procter & Gamble's 2022 attempt to acquire Billie razors (later allowed under conditions)
• European regulators scrutinized AB InBev's acquisition of SABMiller, requiring significant divestitures
• The DOJ forced AB InBev to divest Corona and Modelo's U.S. operations to Constellation Brands

However, most brand acquisitions within existing product categories still receive regulatory approval, as individual deals rarely push market share above the thresholds that trigger intervention.

How to See Through the Illusion

Check the fine print. The "Manufactured by" or "Distributed by" text on packaging reveals the corporate owner.

Use WhoBrands. Search our database to quickly identify brand ownership and discover which "competitors" share a parent company.

Look at corporate portfolio pages. Companies like P&G, Unilever, and Nestle publicly list their brand portfolios.

Compare ingredients and manufacturing locations. Products from the same parent company often share manufacturing facilities and similar ingredient lists.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many brands does Procter & Gamble own?

P&G owns approximately 65 brands across household, personal care, and beauty categories, including Tide, Gillette, Olay, Pampers, and Bounty.

Is there truly less choice than it appears?

In many categories, yes. While products differ in specific formulations, scents, and price points, the number of independent companies behind those products is much smaller than the number of brands on the shelf.

Can independent brands still compete?

Yes, but at a disadvantage. Independent brands can succeed in niches, online channels, and local markets. However, competing for national retail shelf space against companies with dozens of brands and massive marketing budgets is extremely difficult.

Is category consolidation illegal?

Not inherently. Antitrust law focuses on specific mergers and acquisitions that would substantially reduce competition. Organic growth and the accumulation of brands over decades is generally legal, even when it results in high market concentration.

The Bottom Line

The next time you browse a store aisle, look past the colorful packaging and distinct brand names. The variety you see is real at the product level, but the corporate diversity behind it is far more limited than it appears. Understanding category consolidation does not mean you should stop buying products you enjoy. It means you can make purchasing decisions with a clearer picture of where your money actually goes.

Explore brand ownership across every category on WhoBrands or browse by category.

Explore Related Brands

• Tide - P&G's flagship detergent, dominates laundry
• Dove - Unilever's personal care giant
• KitKat - Nestle chocolate worldwide, Hershey in U.S.
• Snickers - Mars' best-selling candy bar
• Budweiser - AB InBev's iconic American lager
• Pedigree - Mars pet food, sister to Snickers

Browse all brands

Sources

1. Euromonitor International. "Market Share Data by Category." 2024-2025. 2. Nielsen IQ. "U.S. Retail Market Share Reports." 2025. 3. Procter & Gamble Annual Report 2024. us.pg.com/investors 4. Federal Trade Commission. "Merger Review Guidelines." ftc.gov 5. IBISWorld. "Industry Concentration Reports." 2025.

All brand ownership data verified through WhoBrands.com's research methodology. Last updated: January 21, 2026.