Consumer Shopping Habits for Wellness and Environmentally ...

Q32: “When you buy Home Cleaning, what are the most important factors OTHER than price/value? Please check your top TWO
choices” | Base: Product shoppers (n varies from 528 for Laundry detergents to 544 for Kitchen cleaners). | Source: GMDC 2009
Survey, Mar. 2009.
Brand and Product Offerings
Much like hair and skin care, the home cleaning category suffers from a lack of wellness-oriented
products in high-visibility areas in stores. While there is a more than adequate range of SKUs
available across the H+W continuum in most home cleaning subcategories, the more wellnessoriented
end of that spectrum is typically located in specialty or ―natural‖ (i.e. low visibility) areas
within stores. In many instances, brand blocks also serve as impediment in preventing consumers
from being able to readily compare similar products to one another.
Figure 68 - Home Cleaning Brands
CLOROX
AJAX
LYSOL
METHOD
CLOROX GREENWORKS
SEVENTH GENERATION
BIOKLEEN
PERIPHERY MID-LEVEL CORE
Home Fragrance as Home Cleaning Subcategory
We found that home fragrance is a somewhat divisive subcategory. Many consumers, particularly
Mid-Level and Core consumers, tend to avoid most types of conventional home fragrance products,
though sometimes using candles, incense, or essential oils for manipulating the scent of an indoor
space. Where consumers do use more conventional home fragrance products such as air
fresheners, and do not have toxicity or environmental concerns, the purchase criteria are fairly
simple – ―do I (or am I likely to) like the scent,‖ a general sense of effectiveness, and price. Most
conventional fragrance products tend to violate the more general decision criteria for home cleaning
products observed by Core and Mid-level consumers, hence the lack of notable participation in the
subcategory. Retailers and manufacturers may consider some level of ―reinvention‖ of this entire
subcategory, moving strongly toward formulations and SKU mixes featuring all-natural ingredients, in
formats that do not resemble conventional air fresheners (aerosols, ―plug-ins,‖ et cetera) that may
bring up ideas of ―chemicals‖ for more H+W-involved consumers.
Shopping Barriers for Home Cleaning
The worst aspect of shopping for home cleaning products in general is there are too many choices.
This aspect applies more for kitchen cleaners (50%) than for window cleaners (36%). Consumers
are also more likely to find a lack of selection in convenient stores when shopping for kitchen and
bathroom cleaners. Laundry detergent shoppers find it is difficult to find their preferred products
within stores, as well as finding it a hassle to get in and out of stores. Laundry detergents are one of
the heavier and larger products you can purchase so bringing it out of the store is more of a hassle.
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