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 Household Cleaners - March/April 2008  |
Clean Green
Trader Joe’s and Whole Food Markets color their shelves green. In the past year, retailers who have focused on offering environmentally-friendly products have raised the bar, and are now featuring more natural and environmentally-friendly household cleaning products. According to Packaged Facts, the U.S. market for household cleaning products cleaned up post-recession earlier this decade. The market bounced back from a slowdown and grew to $7.3 billion in 2007. A new report from Packaged Facts, Household Cleaning Products in the U.S., forecasts the market to continue growing at a slow-and-steady 2% rate, reaching $8.1 billion by 2012. In terms of private label figures, the sales of cleaning products such as PL all-purpose cleaner/disinfectant dropped 3.53% from a year ago (Information Resources Inc., Chicago, IL, latest 52 weeks ending Jan 27, 2008). However, this number does not include Wal-Mart sales. PL liquid laundry detergent grew 11.41% in sales and dish detergent grew 11.79%. The growth of some of the PL household cleaning supplies may be contributed to the addition of environmentally-friendly and natural cleaning products at specialty retailers, like Trader Joe’s, Monrovia, CA, and Whole Foods Market, Austin Texas, whose goals are to offer products that appeal to shoppers concerned with saving the environment. Trading Chemicals for Natural Ingredients Trader Joe’s leans more towards offering a wide range of household cleaning products that are environmentally-friendly than Whole Foods Market. Trader Joe’s features a plethora of choices, including a number of items under its Next to Godliness line. For dishwashing, shoppers can find “environmentally sound” automatic dishwashing soap and liquid dishwashing soap. On the box of the automatic dishwashing soap a call-out touts that it produces sparkling clean dishes without the addition of phosphate, fragrance, chlorine and dyes. As a bonus, the product is manufactured with biodegradable surfactants. The ingredients in Trader Joe’s Next to Godliness liquid dish soap aim to preserve the environment, and include tea tree lavender with essential oils. In order to keep hands soft after washing dishes, shoppers can choose from a variety of items, including Trader Joe’s kitchen anti-bacterial lemon scented soap, which fights garlic and fish odors. Additionally, to keep hands smelling fresh, the retailer’s shelves are stocked with French liquid soap with orange blossom honey. To aid shoppers with cleaning surfaces such as counters without harming the environment, Trader Joe’s offers a cederwood sage multipurpose cleaner. Continuing with Trader Joe’s selection of environmentally-friendly products, the retailer offers two laundry detergents–a liquid laundry detergent and a powder laundry detergent. The liquid detergent’s container informs shoppers that the detergent is pH balanced, doesn’t contain harsh or petro chemicals, doesn’t pollute, and is ideal for all temperatures. The detergent also contains lavender essentials. Whole Foods–It’s All About the Green Whole Foods joins Trader Joe’s in featuring a variety of environmentally-friendly household cleaning products. An interesting observation at one store that PL magazine visited is that the retailer uses shelf-talkers to advertise brands other than its own. The other brands such as Biokleen, 7th Generation and Green Fare are also eco-conscious. Thus, shoppers are probably more liable to notice the national brands rather than Whole Foods’ brand because the eye is drawn towards the signage, which boasts the benefits of the national brand products. Looking beyond the lack of noticeable advertising for its PL household cleaning products, Whole Foods does have a decent variety of products. One selection is 365 Everyday Value all purpose cleaner. The product has a natural orange scent and on the back label, Whole Foods describes the item: “Our 365 Everyday Value All Purpose Cleaner effectively cleans tough dirt and grease without toxic chemical, chlorine or ammonia. It leave no harmful residues, is safe for the environment and is biodegradable.” A natural orange scent seems to be the theme at Whole Foods Markets. Its store brand dishwashing liquid has a natural orange scent and also contains all natural ingredients. Other eco-conscious products offered are laundry powder and automatic dish washing detergent. Not Quite Yet The market for PL eco-friendly cleaning products is growing; however the growth seems to be mostly within specialty retailers who focus on featuring all environmentally-friendly products. According to Packaged Facts, while green household products have fully penetrated natural foods stores, finding space in traditional mass-market channels is still a challenge. Marketers stand to benefit a great deal from “ethical” cleaning products, with half of Americans between the age of 18 and 29 saying they are willing to spend more for products labeled as organic, environmentally-friendly, or fair trade. “The demand for hybrid brand products and cross-category functional products is also likely to continue growing in the future,” comments Cathy Minkler, associate editor of Packaged Facts. “As several consumer trends converge, such as eco-friendly, obsessions with clutter, and convenience, we expect to see more products promoted as a total cleaning solution for the home.” Although mass merchandisers, supermarkets and drugstores have not quite yet picked up on the trend of offering natural PL household cleaning products, the fact that specialty retailers are rolling out PL eco-conscious products is a positive indication of the future of PL household cleaning product that are safe for the environment. Recommended Suppliers
Products described or shown in this article are not necessarily available from these suppliers. For more suppliers see current Private Label Directory & Buyer’s Guide. |
