Magazine: Convenient solutions in cleaning (Part 1)

We are always glad when spring arrives, so women start the big spring clean in a better mood, too. Bernadett Vékásy, brand manager of Henkel Hungary started introducing the category by saying that spring is the high season for cleaning windows, but the market of other cleaning products is also expanding in this period. After many years of stagnation, sales finally started growing in the cleaning product category in 2014 – in both value and volume.

Viktor Hegedűs, Domestos brand manager of Unilever Hungary revealed that spring is the time when housewives refill their cleaning products stocks and stores offer price discounts on these products. According to Lukáš Klimek, Reckitt-Benckiser Kft.’s CEE region junior brand & trade marketing manager, it is a new trend that instead of the 2 big cleans in autumn and spring consumers now do the big clean 4 times (Easter, early summer, school year start, Christmas). Szilvia Madari, managing director of Flyfit Kft. told us that demand is increasing for eco- and skin-friendly cleaning products. Spray cleaners constitute one of the fastest growing segments. Last year Unilever put Cif Power Cream Limescale Remover and Cif Power Cream Grease Remover on the market. Another rapidly growing category is household wipes: Domestos has been a key player in the segment for years with its hygienic wipes – these products are very convenient and can be used for many surfaces. Henkel’s experience is that scent matters very much when buying special cleaners and lemon is still the most popular scent. In the last few years the company revamped both the Bref toilet cleaner and the Clin window cleaner brands, both inside and outside. Bref Power Active Lavender toilet rim block is one of the latest products, another one being the Bref Power Active WC Gel, a multifunctional toilet cleaner. Research by Reckitt-Benckiser showed that the average Hungarian consumer buys more and more types of cleaning products. Convenience is very important for consumers when using a cleaning product, this is one of the reasons why the spray segment is growing. The foam segment, represented by Cillit Bang in the company’s portfolio, is also increasingly popular in bathroom cleaning and the brand will soon appear with an innovation in the toilet cleaning segment too. Flyfit reckons that Hungarian women have realised that they can clean the flat without getting their skin dry on their hands, for instance by Winni’s eco cold grease remover, which can be used in the kitchen and for clothes too. With bathroom cleaner products it is now an expectation to offer universal products, which can do the job instead of the 2-3 cleaners used formerly. According to Andrej Botos, marketing manager of Bonus Kft., demand is the biggest for daily cleaning accessories, such as washing-up sponges, standard cloths and mops. We learned from Károly Deli, the brand manager of Sarantis Hungary Kft., that in the spring big clean season housewives prefer products which work both inside and outside the house, and they tend to buy small product versions. Edit Oláh, a marketing manager with Vileda told our magazine that innovations need to be supported in the media and at the points of sale, and added that these days keeping in touch with customers is most easily done online. For Vileda wet floor cleaning is the most important category: special mop and bucket set Vileda Easy Wring&Clean was one of their biggest successes in the last few years. The company’s most popular sponge is Vileda Glitzi. Bonus Kft.’s most popular products are 3-5-10 piece scouring pads and household wipes. Bonus Premium Line is the product group where the most innovations are launched. The company had an international patent registered for their MPS and MPPS scrubbers. Sarantis Hungary Kft. has been the distributor of the Domet product line since 2011, which consists of sponges, brooms, nail brushes and other household accessories. In 2015 a new product line will come out in the floor care category. Among rubber gloves new Universal Nitril and Aloe Vera will appear on store shelves