I’d like to see the story that beats this one for ‘major breaking news’
Recent photo from a Davenport Walmart. So is backing up to a bidet any sort of answer?
The Story of the Day From The Wall Street Journal and the Atlantic: (bold our emphasis) dlh
“For tens of thousands of Americans… the time for a bidet has arrived.”
‘Our competitor is toilet paper.’— Mr. Ojalvo of ‘Tushy’
– “Jason Ojalvo, CEO of direct-to-consumer bidet company Tushy,* knew that America’s backsides couldn’t wait. Watching demand skyrocket on his online sales dashboard as America’s great toilet-paper crisis of 2020 left store shelves bare and shoppers panicking, he decided to take drastic measures to guarantee ongoing supply.”
– “Where before Tushy might spend a big chunk of the $79 price for its entry-level bidet on advertising—direct-to-consumer companies often spend a third of revenue on marketing—it has been able to redirect that money to its higher shipping costs, says Mr. Ojalvo.”
– “U.S. makers of bidets… decry the quality of inexpensive models direct from China, of which there are an endless variety. But the kind of bare-bones add-on bidets sold by all of these companies vary little in their design. All are slim enough to be installed underneath an existing toilet seat in about 10 minutes, and consist of a hose that attaches to a toilet’s water supply, a valve to control water pressure and a nozzle that sprays water. That’s about it.” (What more do you need?)
– “The French invented the bidet in the 1600s, as a way to freshen up without taking a full bath.
Airfreight costs are still squeezing Tushy’s margins, (Who wants their ‘tushy margins squeezed?”)
Airfreight costs are still squeezing Tushy’s margins, but the company’s leaders have decided that, because people who buy their products tend to become bidet evangelists…(You,too, could become a ‘bidet evangelist’)
Paradoxically, the functional equivalence of all these bidets is one reason Tushy could come out ahead in the end, fulfilling its leaders’ aspirations to make it the Casper of its category. By focusing on aesthetics, the company hopes to position itself as the hip alternative to stodgy, traditional bidets. “People care about design, especially if you live in a small place in New York City and you want to look at things that feel good,” says Ms. Agrawal.
For now, the biggest barrier for all of these companies remains Americans’ historical reluctance to use a bidet at all. “Our competitor is toilet paper,” says Mr. Ojalvo. . . .
*https://hellotushy.com/
