Why are bidets so popular in America now?

new york
CNN
—

When you brought up the idea of ​​installing a bidet to the average American pre-pandemic, they likely washed the idea away immediately.

The bathroom cleaning business, once a foreign concept to many Americans, has boomed during the coronavirus pandemic, when shoppers were grappling with a toilet paper shortage. Experienced. But while some products and industries have boomed during the pandemic, and later boomed again, like masks, roller skates, pet adoption, Zoom subscriptions, and Peloton bikes, bidets have made a big splash. call, We were able to maintain sales growth.

Bidets and their cousins, washlets, “bum guns” and other water-based alternatives to toilet paper, are popular in most parts of the world. Bidet enthusiasts tout how sustainable, clean, and low-wearing this equipment is. But Americans can’t seem to let go of Charmin Bear. Some people were running out of toilet paper before coming up with the 18th century invention.

During the pandemic, Bideking.com sold out all its bidets and business grew exponentially, said Bideking.com founder James Lin.

The site was facing a massive supply shortage and had to fly in expensive containers to meet demand. Lin said shipments of products by water from overseas were completely sold out before shipping. It also hit a warehouse.

According to some estimates, the overall bidet market grew two to three times in 2020. Tushy, which makes trendy bidet seat attachments, had revenue of $40 million in 2020, compared to $8 million in 2019, founder Miki Agrawal told CNN.

Americans are still interested in bidets. Bidetking.com reports that since the pandemic, sales have increased by at least 20% every year and are expected to approach 30% by 2023.

A rapidly growing number of American consumers are faced with a dizzying array of bidet options. Those with a penchant for spending money can find luxurious options that give their porcelain thrones the royal treatment. Japanese electronic bidet maker TOTO sells a “Washlet” with a hot water heating system (a jet of water that heats the toilet seat and cleanses the user’s bottom) and a wireless remote control for as much as $1,420 on bideking.com doing. (with multiple spray settings), hands-free dryer. Featuring quirky marketing, Tushy sells his popular bidet attachments starting at $99.

Most of the growth comes from new customers, as few people buy bidets every year. Bidet sales often spread through word of mouth alone. Once a person converts to a new method of toilet hygiene, they may want to invite their friends and family to join the club. And many of those customers are often permanent, rather than temporary.

Some customers who started with more basic washer attachments are now upgrading to electronic models with different temperature and pressure settings. Lin said the most popular type of bidet in the U.S. is a non-powered attachment that just sprays cold water and sells for less than $50 on sites like Amazon.

Some people have found even cheaper alternatives. Joe, a Michigan native who did not want to be identified by his last name, picked up a bidet from a discarded toilet on the side of the road and an adapter hose to attach it to his home. He said he bought it (after disinfecting it). .

“Oh, I wish I had known sooner,” Joe told CNN.

The idea of ​​using running water to clean your butt rather than something hard, whether it’s leaves or paper, may be as old as humans have been.

The bidet originated in France and was used among the nobility as a separate piece of furniture next to the pot. Variations of bidets are widespread from Europe to the Middle East, East Asia, and some countries in South America.

In the age of electronics, Japanese brand TOTO revolutionized the washlet in 1980 with a toilet seat attachment that flushes with warm water. This device became popular in homes and businesses across Japan and abroad.

A common reason bidets are not used in the United States is because during World War II, American soldiers witnessed brothels using bidets. When they returned to the United States, they avoided bidets because of their implications. Additionally, the post-war construction boom led to the construction of plumbing systems without bidets. (However, Japanese washlets etc. connect to the existing toilet, so they do not require separate plumbing like French bidets.)

I felt a foreign object in my bidet. Some new bidet users interviewed by CNN said they associated the object with places like Europe and Japan, or with things found in luxury hotels. When Joe and his wife lived in Spain, he didn’t even know at first what the unattached bidet in his apartment’s bathroom was used for.

Tushy founder Agrawal said she was drawn to the bidet business because it was standard practice for her growing up with an Indian father and Japanese mother.

Of course, for many people, water-based cleanliness has long been ingrained in their culture, going back centuries.

For example, for Muslims, Islamic jurisprudence sets out strict guidelines regarding body washing. Many countries in Asia and the Middle East utilize “bum guns,” low-cost hand-held sprayers attached to the side of the toilet with a hose, or watering can-like water jugs.

Eyad Atiyeh, a resident physician in Illinois, spent part of his childhood and adolescence in Jordan, where every house had a bidet. During his medical training, he learned the health benefits of bidets, especially for people suffering from hemorrhoids and hernias.

“A big part of our culture is using water to clean. If you don’t do that, you can’t pray and it’s not considered clean in Islamic terms,” ​​Atieh said.

When there was a major toilet paper shortage in 2020, many Americans realized there might be another way to clean themselves. Environmental concerns about trees, paper, and waste likely also played a role.

Toilet paper jokes are a staple of toilet humor, and for teenagers, “TPing” was a typical rite of passage, and using toilet paper seemed somehow American. And nothing is more American than the Charmin Bear, an industry icon that already dominates supermarket aisles.

So “to get consumers to do something different, we need to bring back all the brand associations[with toilet paper]and consumer habits,” said Derek Rucker, a professor at the Kellogg School of Management. told CNN.

Rucker said the bidet industry needs to become a social norm in the United States, including being incorporated into more new homes. Many bidet users in the United States converted after visiting societies where bidet use was widespread.

Chicago resident Michaela Kelzer visited Japan in the pre-pandemic summer and marveled at the variety of bidet settings even at the most hidden restaurants.

Then the pandemic hit, and Kelzer “had nothing but time” to find “pockets of joy” in her days. A toilet paper fanatic, she decided to kill two birds with one stone by splurging on Tassie.

“It was more about nurturing myself and feeling like I was doing something good for myself in a way that I could control, because everything else was so out of control,” Kelzer said.

Keltzer has a basic tushy, but she says her parents are now considering something more state-of-the-art with temperature control. Two of her friends are now “proud bidet owners.”