Johnson & Johnson still considers itself to be the worldwide leader in infant products, but a 20 percent decline in sales for its baby care unit since 2011 has prompted it to relaunch the product line with a new focus, according to CNBC.
Many consumers have begun avoiding infant products with chemicals and potentially harmful toxins, instead preferring organic or more natural products.
"Perhaps because of our success, we became a bit complacent and did not want to mess with success, for lack of a better expression," Jorge Mesquita, worldwide chairman and executive vice president for Johnson & Johnson's global consumer unit, told CNBC. "Frankly, we failed to see evolving needs from millennial consumers, millennial moms, and we failed to evolve our model."
In an effort to appeal to these changing customer demands, Johnson & Johnson is slashing the number of ingredients in its baby care line by half, eliminating many chemicals and replacing them with ingredients like coconut oil.
"What we learned is that they were looking for fewer, simpler ingredients, more naturally derived ingredients in their products," Trisha Bonner, associate director of research and development at Johnson & Johnson Consumer, told CNBC. "From that, we knew that we had to completely make a change to our brand."