Environmental concerns have historically been a high priority for consumers in New Zealand, and while brands such as Earthwise and Ecostore have been firmly established within laundry care for some time, their penetration levels have never seriously challenged the leading players, such as Unilever and Henkel. While COVID-19 did not directly impact laundry care, due to the category being highly ubiquitous and mature, closed borders and the economic benefits associated with the country’s success in combating the pandemic brought about higher levels of household spending, which combined with stronger distribution and innovation – most notably from Earthwise, which expanded its offering into water softeners and other laundry additives in 2021 – helped to drive significant growth for green brands within laundry care.
Unilever continued to lead laundry care in 2021, due to the significant share held by its Persil brand within laundry detergents. The Persil brand enjoys strong distribution and an in-store presence through supermarkets, as well as a high level of promotional and marketing activity, and as a result of the brand’s strong and long presence in New Zealand, it is routinely ranked amongst the top 20 most trusted brands in the country.
Similar to how increased levels of household spending helped drive sales growth for green brands, this also drove a strong increase for liquid tablet detergents, which was the strongest growth category in laundry care in current value terms in 2021. Persil in particular has been prominent in advertising and promoting its range of products in the category, and has focused on advertising its superior product performance to leverage product performance trends derived from heightened cleanliness and hygiene due to COVID-19.
During the review period, droughts in the Auckland region resulted in significant water shortages. While this was alleviated in 2021 due to high rainfall, the city’s water infrastructure deficit is likely to see a third of the population of New Zealand subject to water conservation measures over the forecast period.
Both Woolworths and Foodstuffs refreshed their private label offerings over the review period, positioning them as legitimate brands in their own right, designed to firmly compete in the mid-priced space, with a greater emphasis placed on product quality. This marked a departure from previous strategies, when private label mainly competed on price and at the lower-end of the market.
New Zealand currently has a chronic housing shortage, with insufficient supply and strong demand resulting in rising house prices. The government has indicated that addressing housing supply is a key priority to address over the forecast period.
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Understand the latest market trends and future growth opportunities for the Laundry Care industry in New Zealand with research from Euromonitor International's team of in-country analysts – experts by industry and geographic specialisation.
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Laundry Care
This is the aggregation of laundry detergents, fabric softeners, carpet cleaners and laundry aids.
See All of Our DefinitionsThis report originates from Passport, our Laundry Care research and analysis database.
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