Conditioners clean up with new scents

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Persil Small & Mighty Pouches - Unilever

Can a detergent really be small, mighty and better for the environment? That’s Unilever’s claim about this neat little launch, which it unveiled in April. The new pouch format is targeted at price savvy as well as eco-conscious consumers, based on the promise of “more Persil, less plastic.” Boasting five extra washes (30) per pouch but with 78% less plastic than bottles, the new format has been marketed to work either as a standalone pack or as a refill to Persil’s 40 and 60-wash bottles.

Looking for some good news amid all this talk of deflation and delistings? You’ve found it. The performance of fabric conditioners is a masterclass in restoring value and justifying space on shelf, with the market’s 15% average price rise the greatest of the year.

The sector has come out smelling of roses in spite of the threat of range rationalisation and growing competition from the discounters, putting an extra £38.1m through the tills, as detergent sales lost £1.4m. This is even more impressive considering volumes are down for many of the biggest conditioner brands.

“The price rises are due to premium launches such as Comfort Creations and Lenor Unstoppables, so NPD is very important to category growth,” says Nielsen analysts Ben Strickson, adding Comfort Intense has been the biggest launch of the year, worth £13.3m, its USP fragrance technology designed to release continuous bursts of freshness throughout the day.

This has helped the Comfort brand secure growth of 9.4% on volumes that dipped 1.2%. Lenor, meanwhile, has had even greater growth, with value up 12.9% and volumes down 15%, driven by the brand’s scented beads sub-brand Unstoppables. Brand owner P&G says it sees no stopping the rise of the conditioners market.

“Many UK shoppers are scent junkies,” claims Ian Morley, sales director for P&G Northern Europe. “They are highly open to trying both new scents and also new forms. As retailers look at macro space choices, this will be a growth choice for many in 2016.”

That we’re open to new concepts is borne out by the growth of Unstoppables, the first product of its kind in the UK. It’s also evidenced by the growth of Dettol Laundry Cleanser, up a staggering 54.9% to £7.6m and now the 10th biggest name in detergent. Not bad, considering this is only the product’s second full year on the market and it’s not really a detergent - it’s to be used in tandem with detergent to kill germs at low temperatures.

The laundry market, meanwhile, is proving a tougher place to be, with value flat and volumes down slightly. Still, things are changing, with format sizes on the increase, says Claire Whalley-Livesey, head of category at McBride. “Across laundry, consumers are tending to trade up to larger packs.”

Despite the tough climate, market leader Persil has grown value and volume, helped by the April launch of Small & Mighty pouches (below), targeting price-savvy and eco-conscious consumers. Ariel is down 4.8% on volumes down 3.7%, its loss driven by continuing changes in format. “Dry tablets have all but disappeared,” says Morley. “The market is split now between powders, free flow and liquitabs.”

TOP 10 Laundry detergents				SALES
				£m	change (£m)	change (%)
Total volume change: –1.8			Total Category	1,070.20	–1.4	–0.1
			Total Own Label	116.40	–2.9	–2.4
1	1	Persil	Unilever	246.5	10.8	4.6
2	2	Ariel	P&G	175.6	–8.9	–4.8
3	3	Surf	Unilever	131.1	5.5	4.4
4	4	Bold	P&G	127.3	4.9	4
6	5	Fairy	P&G	100.3	–3.4	–3.3
7	7	Vanish	RB	67.5	6	9.8
8	6	Daz	P&G	55.5	–12.6	–18.5
9	8	Ecover	Ecover	10.7	0.6	6
10	11	Dettol	RB	7.6	2.7	54.9

TOP 5 Fabric conditioners				SALES
				£m	change (£m)	change (%)
Total volume change: –4.3%			Total Category	416.6	38.1	10.1
			Total Own Label	50.7	4.7	10.2
1	1	Comfort	Unilever	176.8	15.1	9.4
2	2	Lenor	P&G	153	17.4	12.9
3	3	Fairy	P&G	18.5	1.4	8.4
4	4	Febreze	P&G	10.3	–0.4	–3.5
5	5	Ecover	Ecover	2.9	0.3	13.1