Magazine: Changing attitude in the laundry detergent market

Liquid detergents and capsules are more and more popular in the laundry detergent market; at the same time the powder format is becoming less important. As for retail channels, sales are growing by two-digit numbers in drugstores, while hypermarkets’ share is diminishing. Buying laundry detergent is typically a planned purchase and the category isn’t characterised by seasonality. People like to buy in promotional periods. Unilever’s experience is that volume sales stayed put in the last year, but value sales augmented by 2 percent – we learned from Zsuzsa Petrikovics, brand manager of Unilever Magyarország Kft. Premium brands and new products such as Surf keep expanding in the category. In 2017 the company added a fresh, summer scent to the product portfolio, Fruity Fiesta & Summer Flowers.

Zsuzsa Petrikovics
brand manager
Unilever Magyarország

Klaudia Deregi
brand manager
Henkel Magyarország

Klaudia Deregi, brand manager (Laundry & Home Care) of Henkel Magyarország Kft. told our magazine that besides colour intensity and fabric protection, the ability to remove stains is very important in the washing process. With this fact in mind, the company has developed the new Persil 360°. This new liquid detergent efficiently removes stains, cleans clothes, makes them fresh and preserves textile quality.

More and more consumers use hypoallergenic laundry detergents. According to Szilvia Madari, managing director of Flyfit Kft., the market has definitely taken a step in the direction of environmentally friendly products. These days a store’s prestige increases if it offers a large selection of these eco products. Winni’s eco washing and cleaning products are made from plant-derived ingredients. Quality ingredients are important in the case of laundry detergents: some of the material used for washing remains in the textile, and these can be absorbed by the skin via sweating when the clothes are worn.

Szilvia Madari
managing director
Flyfit

Kata Bartek
brand manager
Superio

Richard Bóna
managing director
monsun

Kata Bartek, brand manager of Superio Kft. talked to our magazine about a new formula, which had been developed by the experts of Ecover. Thanks to this, the product has the same cleaning effect as before but requires 54-percent smaller water use and comes in 38 percent less packaging material. Changes are around the corner with the company’s fabric softener products too, as sustainably produced rapeseed oil will be used in manufacturing them instead of palm oil.

The Souldrops product range was introduced to the market in February 2017. Richárd Bóna, managing director of monsun Kft. told Trade magazin that most shoppers are rather conservative when it comes to buying laundry detergent – they don’t switch to a new product easily. Still, consumers received the new laundry detergent brand positively, so the launch of Souldrops was very successful. In line with consumer needs, lots of natural ingredients are used during manufacturing, and the products contain no mineral oil. The company keeps innovating and they plan to put new products on the market in the near future. What is more, new selling opportunities are also about to be utilised. //