The Future of Household Cleaning: Capitalizing On Emerging Trends and Changing Preferences

Introduction

Datamonitor believes that a 'marketing sweetspot' exists in the development and wider marketing of household care products. Although consumers are clearly heavily influenced by price, the 'sweetspot' is in recognition of the confluence of consumer trends impacting household care choices

Scope

Covers household care, with a particular focus of household cleaning, including category specific market data and per capita expenditures

Detailed analysis on consumer attitudes towards, and perceived influence of, different product features and benefits impacting choice

In-depth action points offering practical strategies based on the trends and insights uncovered in the report

Covers five major geographic territories: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, MENA and Latin America

Highlights

Two-thirds of consumers globally buy cleaning products on the basis of value-for-money either 'most' or 'all the time'. Brazilians (79%) and Russians (74%) were most fervent in their self-reported quest for value-for-money. Japanese and Swedish consumers expressed the least propensity to buy on the basis of value

Environmentalism and the move toward sustainability is becoming a meaningful driver of consumer behavior in household care, but is secondary to most purchase influencers

Data extrapolated from Datamonitor's Product Launch Analytics (PLA) database highlights that air fresheners and general purpose cleaners accounted for the highest proportion of new product introductions tracked by Datamonitor's product specialists across the globe in 2008-09

Reasons to Purchase

Develop better targeted products with detailed understanding of the household cleaning needs and preferences of consumers across 17 countries

Access data analysis from two waves of primary consumer research, and best practice examples of innovative and effectively marketed products

Improve your marketing by following best-practice guidelines. Develop action plans using Datamonitor's recommendations as a catalyst for ideation

Contents

Overview
Catalyst
Summary
Table of Contents
Table of figures
Table of tables

THE FUTURE DECODED

INTRODUCTION: Household care comprises laundry and household cleaning, with this report only focusing on the latter
This report is one of two category-focused reports outlining household care trends and preferences
Irrespective of whether consumers like cleaning their houses, it is something that is generally deemed to be highly important
TREND: The most significant growth in household cleaning products is occurring in the emerging markets
Product launch trend data offer some insight about the direction of household cleaning products
General purpose cleaners generally account for the highest share of consumers' household cleaning spend
Air fresheners are well placed to capitalize on the powerful influence of scent on consumers' emotional wellbeing and the fact that people are gravitating towards their homes amid the economic downturn
Bleach spend in many markets is falling amid concerns about formulation and the growing efficacy of general purpose cleaners
Emerging markets will be the main engine of growth for dishwashing products
Key takeouts and implications: emerging markets represent the 'path to growth' in household care
INSIGHT: A preoccupation with health and wellbeing also exerts significant influence on household cleaning attitudes, motivations and preferences
Consumers explicitly recognize the link between good hygiene and wellbeing via a 'feel-good factor' that is obtained from doing the cleaning and/or the results obtained
Consumers are less able to relate to the idea that the act of household cleaning itself is therapeutic
Most consumers are aware of and concerned about the negative health effects of poor home hygiene
Fears over ingredient harshness and safety in household care products are influencing consumer choices, with the halo surrounding natural formulations becoming more apparent
Sensory benefits can also boost the wellbeing factor of household care products
Key takeouts and implications: the industry must strive towards better associating household cleaning products with wellness
INSIGHT: Value for money considerations heavily influence household product choice and the generally favorable perception of private label branded cleaning products
Value-consciousness is a highly pervasive influence of many household care product choices
Private label household cleaning products have increasing credibility with consumers, but the habitual buying of preferred brands is still relatively commonplace
Word-of-mouth recommendations and product samples are also perceived to exert some influence on product choice
Key takeouts and implications: be wary of putting a disproportionate focus on price in responding to consumers' value-consciousness
INSIGHT: Convenience and efficacy heavily influence household cleaning choices due to both an inherent dislike of cleaning and perceived time scarcity
The majority of consumers both dislike household chores and feel constrained by time scarcity
Efficacy and multi-purpose benefits are deemed influential to consumers, but less so than other benefits
Minimizing time spent doing housework is important to consumers, but is not fully reflected in the perceived influence of time-saving product features
Consumers attach more importance to ease of use than ease of storage, but both are highly influential attributes shaping household care preferences
Key takeouts and implications: consumers are looking for ways to minimize time and effort spent on doing their housework, and household care brands must outperform rivals in this critical area
INSIGHT: Ethicality and sustainability is a theme that continues to gain momentum in household care product choices
A notable segment of consumers are deliberately avoiding companies and brands with a poor environmental reputation and are also paying attention to sustainable packaging issues
Ethical and environmental consumerism drives the demand for more 'virtuous formulation' and 'virtuous production'
Key takeouts and implications: environmentalism and the move toward sustainability is becoming a meaningful driver of consumer behavior in household care, but is secondary to most purchase influencers

ACTION POINTS

ACTION: Make performance, ease, ethics, wellbeing and value for money core components of household cleaning brands
ACTION: Help consumers to understand what ingredients are used and why
ACTION: Cater to consumers' desires for more ethical, safer products and processes
ACTION: Offer higher-value, more effective and more convenient solutions to help protect against the pervasive private label threat

APPENDIX

Supplementary data
Scouring products
Insecticides
Furniture polish
Methodology
Further reading and references
Ask the analyst
Datamonitor consulting
Disclaimer

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Consumer survey: agreement that consumers are houseproud, in 15 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America, by country, 2008
Table 2: Consumer survey: importance attributed to maintaining a clean and hygienic living environment, in 15 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America, by country, 2008
Table 3: General purpose cleaners market value and expenditure per capita, in 17 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by country, 2003-13
Table 4: General purpose cleaners market across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by region and sub-category, 2008
Table 5: Toilet care market value and expenditure per capita, in 17 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by country, 2003-13
Table 6: Toilet care market value across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by region and sub-category, 2008
Table 7: Air fresheners market value and expenditure per capita, in 17 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by country, 2003-13
Table 8: Air fresheners market value across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by region and sub-category, 2008
Table 9: Bleach market value and expenditure per capita, in 17 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by country, 2003-13
Table 10: Bleach market value across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by region and sub-category, 2008
Table 11: Dishwashing products market value and expenditure per capita, in 17 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by country, 2003-13
Table 12: Dishwashing products market value, across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by region and sub-category, 2008
Table 13: Consumer survey: agreement that having a clean home creates a sense of wellbeing, in 15 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America, by country, 2008
Table 14: Consumer survey: the extent to which a calm and relaxed feeling achieved once the home has been cleaned influences the motivation for cleaning, in 15 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America, by country, 2008
Table 15: Consumer survey: agreement that cleaning the home is therapeutic, in 15 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America, by country, 2008
Table 16: Consumer survey: the extent to which therapeutic benefits of cleaning influence consumers' motivation for cleaning their home, in 15 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America, by country, 2008
Table 17: Consumer survey: agreement that regular household cleaning helps reduce the chances of getting illnesses, in 15 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America, by country, 2008
Table 18: Consumer survey: expressed concern about the air quality in their home, in 15 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America, by country, 2008
Table 19: Consumer survey: stated concern about the safety or harshness of chemicals used in household cleaning agents, in 15 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America, by country, 2008
Table 20: Consumer survey: perceptions regarding the credibility of claims that natural cleaning products are just as effective as standard products, in 15 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America, by country, 2008
Table 21: Consumer survey: the influence of natural ingredients on consumers' household cleaning and laundry product choices, in 17 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by country, 2009
Table 22: Consumer survey: propensity to choose cleaning or laundry products with natural/organic ingredients, in 17 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by country, 2009
Table 23: Consumer survey: influence of scent or fragrance on household cleaning and laundry product choices, in 15 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America, by country, 2008
Table 24: Consumer survey: influence of scent or fragrance on household cleaning and laundry product choices, in 17 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by country, 2009
Table 25: Consumer survey: the propensity to buy cleaning or laundry products on the basis of value-for-money, in 17 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by country, 2009
Table 26: Consumer survey: influence of price on consumers' household cleaning and laundry product choices, in 17 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by country, 2009
Table 27: Consumer survey: influence of promotional offers on consumers' household cleaning and laundry product choices, in 17 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by country, 2009
Table 28: Consumer survey: perception of store brand household cleaning products compared to well-known brands, in 17 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by country, 2009
Table 29: Consumer survey: the propensity to buy private label or store-brand cleaning or laundry products to save money, in 17 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by country, 2009
Table 30: Consumer survey: influence of brand image on household cleaning and laundry product choices, in 17 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by country, 2009
Table 31: Consumer survey: the extent to which habit and preferred brand influence consumers' household cleaning and laundry product choices, in 17 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by country, 2009
Table 32: Consumer survey: influence of free product samples on household cleaning and laundry product choices, in 17 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by country, 2009
Table 33: Consumer survey: influence of recommendations from friends/family influence on household cleaning and laundry product choices, in 17 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by country, 2009
Table 34: Consumer survey: agreement that housework is not enjoyable, in 15 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America, by country, 2008
Table 35: Consumer survey: agreement that there is not enough time to thoroughly clean the home as much as desired, in 15 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America, by country, 2008
Table 36: Consumer survey: influence of the product's promise on household cleaning and laundry product choices, in 17 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by country, 2009
Table 37: Consumer survey: influence of multi-purpose benefits on household cleaning and laundry product choices, in 17 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by country, 2009
Table 38: Consumer survey: the importance attributed to minimizing the amount of time consumers spend doing housework, in 15 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America, by country, 2008
Table 39: Consumer survey: influence of time-saving benefits on consumers' household cleaning and laundry product choices, in 17 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by country, 2009
Table 40: Consumer survey: influence of ease of use on household cleaning and laundry product choices, in 17 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by country, 2009
Table 41: Consumer survey: influence of ease of storage on household cleaning and laundry product choices, in 17 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by country, 2009
Table 42: Consumer survey: credibility of performance claims made by household cleaning products, in 15 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America, by country, 2008
Table 43: Consumer survey: credibility of advertising that shows the results gained by using household cleaning and/or laundry products, in 15 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America, by country 2008
Table 44: Consumer survey: stated concern about over-packaging in household good categories, in 15 countries across Europe, Asia Pacific, South America and the US, by country, 2008
Table 45: Consumer survey: the frequency with which consumers actively avoid household care products or services on the basis of a company's poor environmental or ethical reputation, in 17 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by country, 2009
Table 46: Consumer survey: the frequency with which consumers buy minimum or reduced packaging cleaning or laundry products, in 17 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by country, 2009
Table 47: Consumer survey: importance attached to knowing that the household products used are formulated in an environmentally friendly manner, in 15 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America, by country, 2008
Table 48: Consumer survey: influence of ethics/sustainability benefits on household cleaning and laundry product choices, in 17 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by country, 2009
Table 49: Consumer survey: propensity to choose products with ethical/environmental benefits, in 17 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by country, 2009
Table 50: Consumer survey: credibility of the environmental claims made by household care brands, in 15 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America, by country, 2008
Table 51: Scouring products market value and per capita expenditure, in 17 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by country, 2003-13
Table 52: Scouring products market value across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by region, by sub-category, 2008
Table 53: Insecticides market value and expenditure per capita, in 17 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by country, 2003-13
Table 54: Insecticides market value across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by region and sub-category, 2008
Table 55: Furniture polish market value and expenditure per capita, in 17 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by country, 2003-13
Table 56: Furniture polish market value, across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America, by region, by sub-category, 2008

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: A range of drivers and inhibitors affect the consumer preference for a sterile environment
Figure 2: The amount of importance attached to maintaining a clean and hygienic living environment is greater than the perception of being houseproud
Figure 3: Household care new product launches by region, 2008-09
Figure 4: Trend development is dictated by both 'consumer pull' and 'manufacturer push', and Datamonitor offers the intelligence tools to capitalize on this reality
Figure 5: The top claims associated with newly introduced general purpose cleaners reflect consumers' growing demand for more 'virtuous formulation' and 'virtuous production', as well as the escalating private label threat that meets their intensifying value-for-money expectations
Figure 6: There was a notable spike in global private label toilet care product launches in 2008-09
Figure 7: Premiumization has been a high-growth innovation theme in new global air freshener product introductions between 2005 and 2009
Figure 8: More virtuous claims are among the leading product tags for newly introduced bleach products, but there is not a clear direction in the pattern of innovation in the category overall
Figure 9: No phosphate formulations began to gain momentum in 2009 and Datamonitor expects this to remain an important theme in innovation going into the new decade
Figure 10: The wellbeing factor induced from having a clean home is something that the overwhelming majority of consumers can relate to
Figure 11: There is a relatively strong similarity between the attitude that cleaning can be therapeutic and the perceived influence of therapeutic benefits on consumers' overall motivation to do the cleaning
Figure 12: Consumer survey: main factors affecting air quality in European and US homes, by country, 2006
Figure 13: Agreement that regular household cleaning reduced the chances of illness exceeds stated concern about in-home air quality
Figure 14: Large segments of emerging market consumers lack access to basic sanitation, which is a contributory factor to the extra sensitivity towards hygiene and cleanliness in general
Figure 15: More than one in five global respondents express extreme concern about the safety or harshness of chemicals used in household cleaning agents, yet far fewer perceive the efficacy claims of natural ingredients to be credible
Figure 16: SCJ has recognized that household care shoppers do, and will increasingly, value reassurances and transparency about how products are produced
Figure 17: The halo surrounding natural product formulation is more pronounced in developing countries
Figure 18: Scent can be classified by its ambience and congruency
Figure 19: Vanilla and citrus stand out for being both prominent and high-growth claims in global household care product introductions in 2008-09
Figure 20: Perhaps influenced by intense recessionary pressures, consumers attributed less importance to scent/fragrance in 2009 than 2008, with South Korea being the only exception
Figure 21: Only in Japan do less than half of consumers perceive that they do not routinely buy household cleaning or laundry products on the basis of value for money
Figure 22: Household care consumers are heavily influenced by price-consciousness and promotion-consciousness, but not necessarily to the extent of these being absolute determinants of choice
Figure 23: Private label household cleaning brands are widely considered to be either identical or superior to market-leading alternatives
Figure 24: Consumers are generally more influenced by habit than brand image when purchasing household cleaning products
Figure 25: Wider marketing-orientated issues are not perceived to be highly influential by the majority of global consumers when choosing household care products
Figure 26: Adopting a relentless approach to delivering and communicating better value for money than the competition is crucial
Figure 27: There are at least two broad dimensions of convenience that influence household care consumers
Figure 28: The majority of consumers both dislike household chores and feel constrained by time scarcity
Figure 29: Close to half of consumers perceive efficacy and multi-purpose benefits to be highly influential in their choice of household care products
Figure 30: Nearly two thirds of consumers attach high importance to minimizing the time spent doing housework which is higher than the proportion who deem time-saving benefits to have a high degree of influence over what household products they opt for
Figure 31: Datamonitor believes that urbanization and mobility will continue to have a significant impact on consumer lifestyles going forward in ways that also shape household care product requirements
Figure 32: When choosing household care products, ease of use is deemed more important across all countries surveyed than ease of storage
Figure 33: Promoting performance in a straightforward and unsophisticated manner is likely to make little difference to consumers and may even be perceived as being annoying as well as superfluous
Figure 34: Skeptical consumerism: there are four reasons why trust and ethos based branding are of increasing importance in consumer goods generally and household care more specifically
Figure 35: Sustainability and ethics will drive a higher number of commercial and consumer decisions, creating change across the value chain
Figure 36: The packaging of household goods is of the greatest concern to UK consumers
Figure 37: More than a quarter of consumers are regularly buying household care products with minimum/reduced packaging
Figure 38: In the more developed consumer markets only around one of five to six consumers are heavily influenced by ethics and environmentalism in the product choices that they make
Figure 39: Many consumers are deeply skeptical about large corporations claiming to go green
Figure 40: Numerous issues influence consumers' household care product choice, so marketers need to be wary of one-dimensional promotions
Figure 41: Some groups refer to household cleaners as hazardous, which is clearly a perception not in the interests of the industry
Figure 42: SCJ has developed a special website to communicate the specific of how the company's brands are formulated
Figure 43: Traceability initiatives effectively support the overall branding efforts of products
Figure 44: The success of Clorox demonstrates that green cleaning has credibility
Figure 45: Recent NPD activity from both larger and niche providers demonstrates the growing presence of green cleaning
Figure 46: In the UK, Method focuses on branding itself as "people against dirty" and uses events such as "toxic turn-in days" to promote its eco-friendly credentials
Figure 47: Also in the UK, Unilever's Persil brand is at the center of the wider Cleaner Planet Plan that is less focused on the ingredients used in products and more the broader issues associated with the planet's resources
Figure 48: Most consumers are aware of, and concerned about, the negative health effects of poor home hygiene, which gives industry players an opportunity to enhance the 'wellbeing factor' of a given company or sub-brand
Figure 49: To help differentiate in response to private label threat, household care manufacturers must excel in the provision of factors associated with the PPI
Figure 50: The examples below exude higher value, more effective and more convenient solutions to help protect against the pervasive private label threat
Figure 51: Private label was the leading product tag for newly introduced Scouring Pad products launched in 2008-09
Figure 52: Long-lasting and natural were the leading tags for newly introduced insecticides in 2009
Figure 53: Upscale was the leading furniture polish claim in 2009
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