What changed
E-commerce up 20%, organic sales up 5.1%, $17.1 million in IEEPA refunds
When
Reported October 30, 2026, for the quarter ended September 30
Who it affects
Owner of Arm & Hammer, TheraBreath, Waterpik, Hero and Touchland
What to do
Set a deal floor before rivals spend refund cash in Q4

Key takeaways

  • E-commerce grew 20% to 25.9% of consumer sales, helped by online-heavy acquisitions.
  • The $17.1 million refund equals about 1.07% of quarterly sales, by our math, and will not repeat.
  • On a $30 product with $9 profit, a 20% coupon needs a 3x lift just to break even.

Church & Dwight Q3 2026

+20%global e-commerce revenue
25.9%online share of consumer sales
+5.1%organic sales
$17.1MIEEPA refunds received
Source: Church & Dwight 8-K and 10-Q, October 30, 2026

The numbers

Net sales were $1.602 billion, up 1%, against the company's outlook of a 1% decline. Organic sales rose 5.1% against a 3% outlook, and almost all of that was volume, up 4.6%, with price and mix adding 0.5%. Adjusted EPS rose 13.6% to $0.92. The company raised its 2026 organic outlook to about 5%, and its board approved a buyback of up to $1 billion.

CEO Richard Dierker described the company as moving from laggard to leader on e-commerce growth, according to a published transcript. The 20% is not all organic, though. He tied part of it to deals: Touchland and Miss Mouth's sell heavily online, and the businesses Church & Dwight sold off had little online exposure.

The refund nobody is headlining

Church & Dwight's 10-Q says it paid about $23.0 million in IEEPA tariffs and received about $17.1 million in phase II refunds in the quarter, booked as a reduction in cost of sales. That leaves about $5.9 million not yet received, by our math. The company says it intends to invest the proceeds in consumer-facing activities and to offset inflation.

Our math: $17.1 million is about 1.07% of quarterly net sales. Reported gross margin rose 170 basis points to 46.8%, so without the refund it would have been near 45.7%, a rise of about 60 basis points. The company's release lists refunds as one of several drivers, and a one-time refund will not repeat. Meanwhile, reported marketing fell to $190.7 million from $202.9 million.

How the refund reached the P&L

  1. Supreme Court rules IEEPA tariffs unlawful

  2. CBP launches phase I refund program

  3. CBP launches phase II

  4. About $17.1M reaches Church & Dwight

  5. Phase III process established

Refund money is turning into deals

Dierker told analysts that the share of laundry sold on deal went from the mid-30s to around 40%, and that promotional levels are also above historical norms in litter. He said manufacturers have used tariff refunds to extend promotional spending, while shoppers are still responding to deals. Those are his views on his own categories, taken from an automated transcript, so treat the exact wording with care. No competitor was named.

The company's own response order is worth copying: productivity first, then promotions and revenue management, with list price last unless inflation proves structural. It now plans for about $150 million of inflation, $50 million above its original plan.

What the brands show about competition online

TheraBreath is the clearest win: share of mouthwash rose 3.5 points to a record 26.8%, yet only 14% of households buy it, against 65% for the category.

Touchland is the warning. Its US growth slowed as rivals reached channels where it was absent, Q3 sales were slightly negative, and the company expects roughly flat sales for 2026. Hero shows a timing lesson: about a third of the business is online, and Dierker said Prime Day moving from July to June shifted some US sales between quarters.

So what: should you match a refund-funded deal?

Illustrative numbers. A $30 product earns $9.00 per unit after fees and cost of goods. A 20% coupon takes $6.00, leaving $3.00. You need three times the units just to earn the same profit, before any ad spend. If a rival runs that coupon, matching it only pays when the lift clears 3x, or when new customers come back.

Now take a one-time refund of $50,000. Spent on that coupon, it funds about 8,300 discounted units. Held back, it covers a slower quarter. A rival spending refund cash can stay aggressive only until the cash runs out, which is why it is often better to defend your hero keywords through Q4 than to enter a price war you cannot fund twice.

What sellers should do this week

Most of this takes an afternoon.

  • Brand manager: pull 90 days of competitor price and coupon history for your top 10 ASINs, and flag anything newly on deal. Metric: share of rival SKUs on deal, compared with your baseline.
  • Finance lead: use your Amazon profit calculator to set a floor price per ASIN. Metric: no deal runs below contribution margin.
  • PPC manager: move budget to branded and top converting terms during rival deal windows. Metric: top of search impression share on hero keywords.
  • Finance lead: treat tariff refunds as one-time, and keep them out of your 2027 run rate margin. Metric: gross margin shown with and without refunds.
  • Owner: if you imported under IEEPA tariffs, ask your broker what you have claimed and what remains. Metric: refund claimed against duty paid.
  • Brand manager: test a coupon on one ASIN in a pricing strategy trial before rolling it out. Metric: unit lift against the break-even multiple.

When this does not apply

Refund cash only matters where rivals imported under IEEPA tariffs and have been paid. Phase 3 of CBP's refund process is narrower than earlier phases: C.H. Robinson says it covers finally liquidated entries of plaintiffs with a court order, so do not assume every brand gets cash soon. Laundry and litter are mature, deal-driven categories, so a niche brand with little direct price competition may see none of this. A company of this size can also absorb deals that a small brand cannot, so copy the logic, not the spend.

How we would read this for your brand

Deal pressure shows up first in ad metrics: conversion dips and CPCs hold while a rival runs a coupon. PPC Spider sets target ACoS from product margin after fees, so our Amazon PPC management work can shift spend when margin or conversion moves. Keep up with brand and marketplace moves on our ecommerce news channel, or start with a free Amazon audit.

Sources

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