Made of chemicals and packaged in plastic, homecare brands have worked hard make sure growing environmental concerns are addressed.
While sustainability, reduction of carbon emissions and plastic use are buzz words across most industries now, it is perhaps in homecare that manufacturers have made the biggest strides forward so far. For many consumers, although they are aware of and care about environmental credentials, this is something that they expect retailers, brands and manufacturers to present the solution to. Sustainable products can’t coast by on this one promise alone though, they need to be at least as good as the alternatives already available and on offer at a good price.
The good news for those brands prepared to make the investment is that, for the moment at least, environmental products don’t face as much competition from own label. Tesco is perhaps an exception here with their Eco-Active range, which has been very successful and pledges to be available for 50% less than the branded version.
Looking to the brands that are positioned primarily on their environmental credentials, Ecover and Method have performed well. Currently outside the Top 20, but making fast gains, Ecover grew by 10% in the last year and sister brand Method by 6%, both were recently acquired by SC Johnson. During this time Ecover, which is successful with hand wash, auto dishwash and detergents, relaunched their Zero laundry range. Method now offers a wide range of products including detergents, fabric conditioners and liquid soap. Both brands are trading on their product efficacy as well as their environmental credentials and are benefiting from distribution gains and being positioned within their categories in-store rather than in a special eco-friendly fixture. This fact alone speaks volumes about how far this part of the market has now come.
But sustainability is now very firmly in the mainstream for the homecare sector with many big names developing new versions in the last year. Unilever, not surprisingly, is at the forefront of this and launched Cif ecorefill Power & Shine last year. The brand, in position 21, now offers both a bathroom and kitchen version of the refill which can be used with the existing spray bottle and water. The product uses 75% less plastic than the standard packaging and aims to remove 1.5 million plastic bottles from the world.
Persil, in position 11, changed their packing to be eco-friendly and developed a new formula to help stop clothes from bobbling. Unilever also launched recycled packaging for Comfort Intense and Perfume Deluxe.
