Focus On Household: 25 January

Focus On Household Cleaning & Paper Products

Publishing: 25 January 2025

Advertising deadline: 10 January 2025

Submissions deadline: 8 January 2025

Feature 1 - Focus On Household Cleaning

By Daniel Selwood (Daniel.Selwood@thegrocer.co.uk)

Print, digital and sponsorship opportunities

Brands have been cleaning up in household this past year. Overall branded sales have grown by 4.5% on units up 3.5% as own label has seen value and unit sales fall. Overall sales of household cleaning products are up 4.4% on units up 1.5% [Kantar]. All this follows a year of huge marketing investment and innovation from the big brands. So who’s in strongest growth and why? What sort of products and marketing claims (i.e., efficacy, price, convenience, sustainability, etc) are striking a chord with consumers and what’s in store for the coming year?

Product claims: Central to this feature will be an exploration of the product claims that hold most sway with consumers at present. How important are factors like fragrance, convenience and sustainability? Presumably such considerations are still secondary to product efficacy? How are brands innovating to make products more effective?

Marketing: We will also be looking at how the big brands are using their marketing budgets to convince shoppers to continue putting them in their baskets. How reliant are they on celebrity endorsements, primetime TV ads and digital? And how can challengers with shallower pockets cut through the noise?

Retail share: This feature will explore how different retailers are managing the category in terms of ranging, promotions and balancing brands and own label product assortments. How are brands working with retailers to create excitement in the fixture? Which retailers are in strongest growth and why?

Innovation: This feature will pay close attention to the latest trends in household cleaning and how this is playing out in terms of product innovation. We will profile four of the most interesting latest launches in a separate innovation panel.

Feature 2 - Focus On Household Paper Products

By Rob Brown (Rob_j_a_brown@hotmail.com)

Here’s an illustration of how the hyper-inflation that’s defined in grocery recent years is fading: the average price of loo roll, one of the most widely bought products in the supermarkets, has fallen by 6.6% [Kantar]. Granted, this is partly down to share gains by own label, but that can’t be the only reason. After all, eight of the 10 biggest brands have sold more units in the past year [NIQ]. So why have prices fallen? What impact is this having on the kinds of products people are buying? Are people trading up or down? And what’s in store for the coming year?

Input costs and retail prices: We will be exploring how the cost base for manufacturers has changed in recent years and how this is affecting the prices that people pay for their products in stores. To what extent have base prices changed? Are brands promoting more?

What’s important to consumers? This feature will also be looking at consumer trends in paper products and how these are changing. How important is sustainability to people when they’re buying loo roll, kitchen paper and facial tissues? What about money-saving longer rolls or additions such as scents or balms?

Retail share: This feature will also explore how different retailers are managing the category in terms of ranging, promotions and balancing brands and own label product assortments. How are brands working with retailers to create excitement in the fixture? Which retailers are in strongest growth and why?

Innovation: This feature will pay close attention to the latest trends in household cleaning and how this is playing out in terms of product innovation. We will profile four of the most interesting latest launches in a separate innovation panel.