Laundry Care in the United Kingdom

PROSPECTS

Powder formats becoming obsolete

In 2018, laundry care again failed to post growth in the UK, both in value and volume terms, recording a third consecutive year of decline. This can be attributed to the poor performance of laundry detergents, which posted a significant decline in both value and volume terms due to falling demand for concentrated powder detergents and compact powder tablet detergents.

Liqui-tabs taking-off

The main reason why powder formats continued losing ground in 2018 was the rise of liquid tablets, which are cannibalising sales. Indeed, liquid tablet detergents is currently the only area posting significant growth in laundry detergents.

Cutting out the middle-man?

In 2018, laundry care distribution continued to be dominated by supermarkets and hypermarkets in the UK. However, discounters and internet retailing continue to gain value share.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Laundry care remains heavily polarised

Procter & Gamble continued to lead laundry care in 2018 due to the popularity of its successful Ariel, Fairy, Lenor and Daz brands. Procter & Gambler is followed by Unilever, although there is a major difference in sales share between the two companies.

Innovation key to defining future competitive landscape

The focus on fragrances remains extremely high, particularly on fabric softeners. Lenor recently expanded its fabric softeners range with four new premium fragrances.

New product area?

In 2018, Unilever launched Day2, the first dry-wash spray for clothes. The company wants to leverage the fact that consumers often wash clothes that could actually be worn again.

Files are delivered directly into your account within a few minutes of purchase.