Matthew T. Farrell
President and Chief Executive Officer at Church & Dwight
Hey, thank you, operator. Good morning, everybody, and thanks for joining us today. I'll begin with a review of Q3 results, and I'll turn the call over to Rick Dierker, our CFO. When Rick is wrapped up, we'll open the call up for questions.
So, let's begin. Q3 is the fourth consecutive quarter of solid results, beginning with Q4 2022. Reported revenue was up 10.5%, which exceeded our 8% outlook. Organic revenue grew 4.8%, also exceeding our 4% outlook. It's worthy of note that our global consumer business posted 5.8% organic growth, which exceeded our expectations. Going the other way, our SPD business accounted for 1 point of negative growth.
Our gross margin expanded 270 basis points and marketing as a percentage of sales increased 80 basis points to 11.5% of sales. Adjusted EPS was $0.74, which is $0.08 higher than our $0.66 EPS outlook. And that result was driven by higher-than-expected sales growth and the gross margin expansion. It's important to call out the 2.7% positive volume growth in Q3, it's the first in eight quarters. And our expectation is that positive volume growth will continue in Q4 to finish out the year. But we continue to grow in the online class of trade. 17% of our global sales were purchased online in Q3 compared to 16% in the year ago quarter.
Just a few comments on the economy. Unemployment remains low in the U.S. and in most of our major international markets. Unemployment is the stat that we closely watch. Regarding the health of the consumer, household balance sheets are more stretched as savings are lower and credit card debt is higher. Student loan repayments are restarting. Mortgages and auto loans are more costly, why because of higher interest rates and higher oil may lead to higher gasoline prices. So, a higher cost environment leads to trade-down, as consumers look for the best value, especially in our household categories, and we are well-positioned for this trade-down, given that 40% of our portfolio is value products.
Now, I'm going to comment on each business. First up is the U.S. The U.S. consumer business posted strong 5.5% organic sales growth, of which 3.6% was volume driven. Seven of our 14 power brands held or gained market share in the quarter. And for context, the brands that grew share represent 65% of our U.S. sales. Private label is another stat that we closely watch. The good news here is the weighted average private label market share in our categories is stable.
Now, I want to look at a few of the more important categories in the U.S., starting with laundry. ARM & HAMMER Liquid Laundry continues to see consumption growth, driven in part by the continued trade-down to value brands and by media support behind our new Give It The Hammer! advertising campaign, which celebrates the great value that ARM & HAMMER offers in tough economic times. ARM & HAMMER Liquid Laundry Detergent held share in the quarter as the category grew 5%. We're now at 14.3% share. And XTRA, our extreme value offering, grew consumption 6.1% and increased market share to 3.8%.
Regarding new products, we launched a new unit dose form of detergent, ARM & HAMMER Power Sheets Laundry Detergent. As the first laundry detergent sheet from a major brand in the U.S., Power Sheets is a convenient new unit dose form of detergent that delivers an entirely new laundry experience. It is mess free, it's light weight and eliminates plastic bottle waste, while delivering the trusted ARM & HAMMER powerful cleaning performance that consumers have come to rely on and love. We launched the product online in August. It's September, Power Sheets was the Number 1 largely detergent item during Amazon September Prime Day event. So, we're off to a great start with this innovation, which will roll-out even more broadly in 2024.
Now, Litter. ARM & HAMMER Litter also continues to perform extremely well, with 11% growth, outpacing the category, which was up 8% and growing share to almost 25%. Consumers continue to choose ARM & HAMMER Litter offerings. We have steady demand for our premium litter offering, which is Black Box. But our Orange Box, in particular, is driving the growth as it offers a great value for the cost-constraint cat owner. Our new ARM & HAMMER HardBall Lightweight Clumping Litter is off to a solid start as distribution expands in the lightweight segment, where we are underrepresented today.
Turning now to personal care. BATISTE grew consumption 14% in the quarter as we continue to build dry shampoo awareness and drive household penetration. The dry shampoo category and BATISTE have room to run as we continue to invest to build awareness and drive trial, especially through sampling. HERO, which was acquired last October, captured the Number 1 market share position in the total acne treatment category. In the acne patch subcategory, MIGHTY PATCH is over 50% share. Retail distribution continues to grow and we still have room to run as we expand across all classes of trade. The HERO team is doing a spectacular job growing this business. There continues to be a great deal of buzz here at Church & Dwight around the HERO brand and its future growth potential.
Similarly, THERABREATH, which was acquired in 2021, is performing extremely well and has been gaining share at a rapid pace. In Q3, THERABREATH took over the Number 1 share position in the non-alcohol segment, with almost a 29% share. Distribution of THERABREATH has more than doubled since the acquisition date, and we expect this brand to be a long-term grower for Church & Dwight.
Regarding a couple of businesses that depressed our results last year, WATERPIK continues to stabilize, with Q3 coming in close to plan similar to Q2. WATERPIK all channel consumption actually was up slightly in Q3.
Turning to gummy vitamins. Well, VITAFUSION was close to our expectations in the first half. Our consumption was down 11% in Q3, partly due to distribution losses at many retailers due to our supply issues in 2022. And our job now is to win back retailer confidence and then regain lapsed consumers.
Next up is international. Our international team is doing a great job, delivering organic sales growth of 7.3% in Q3, driven by broad based growth in most of our subsidiaries and our Global Markets Group. Volume contributed 2.3% of the growth, and this was led by STERIMAR Nasal Hygiene and OXICLEAN. Both STERIMAR and HERO are gaining distribution across our international markets, and we expect more to follow.
And finally, specialty products. Organic sales decreased 10%. But this is largely due to one product line called MEGALAC, which is being hurt by inexpensive imports. Excluding MEGALAC, the remainder of SPD delivered positive growth of 2%.
I'm going to wrap up by saying, we just closed out a strong October and we expect positive volume growth for a second consecutive quarter in Q4. We raised our reported sales outlook to reflect the strength of consumer demand for our products, while maintaining our full-year EPS outlook. Now, when we are performing well going into the fourth quarter, it's an opportunity to invest in the business. This is a long-standing practice of reinvestment at Church & Dwight and is well understood by our long-term shareholders. We take the long view with respect to the health of the business.
Our business model is working. Our value offerings are performing well as are our premium offerings. Innovative new products are contributing to our growth. And we have one of our best new product line-ups coming in 2024. Acquisitions are on track, and significant cash generation positions us to continue to add TSR-accretive brands to our portfolio.
And now, I'm going to turn it over to Rick to give you some color around Q3 and the full-year, and the investments we'll be making in Q4.
