Sector Insight (interactive): toilet care

Trends

Demand. Toilet cleaning products remain in demand with an estimated 43m domestic toilets in the UK. The market is estimated to be worth more than £125m in 2012.

Frequency. People like a clean toilet: 63% of households clean them more than once a week and 36% four or more times a week.

Price. As with so many sectors, as the recession has bitten shoppers have looked for low prices and products on promotion which has dented market value.

Brand loyalty. There is a lack of brand loyalty in the sector: although half of shoppers usually buy a well-known brand, only 7% always stick with the same one.

NPD. There has been limited new product development in this category and one introduction – flushable toilet wipes – has proven of low interest.

Specialist products. Not everyone buys toilet-specific products with generic bleach, disinfectants and multi-purpose cleaners popular alternatives. Flush treatment products have declined; bleach remains most widely used toilet cleaning product.

Source: Mintel

Specialist toilet-cleaning brands by value* (£m)

*Includes liquid/gel toilet cleaners, in-bowl rim blocks and liquids/gels, in-cistern blocks and implements Source: Mintel

UK retail value sales of specialist toilet-care products, by segment (£m)

The industry's main players

Jerome Lemaire, marketing director, Reckitt Benkiser

Lemaire took over from Stefan Gaa in August and now leads all UK marketing activity across RB's household, health and personal care portfolio which includes Harpic. With a long career in RB, his roles have covered US, Europe and global remits since he started as an assistant brand manager in France in 1998.





Petra Hangweier, brand building director, laundry and household cleaning, Unilever

Unilever UK & Ireland’s laundry and household cleaning brand building marketing team has been led by Hangweier since November 2010. Prior to this, she was responsible for brand building in the savoury business in Germany, Austria & Switzerland (DACH) based in Hamburg, Germany.






Ildiko Egresfalvi, Bloo Senior Brand Manager, Jeyes

In May this year Egresfalvi took over the Bloo senior brand manager role having joined Jeyes a year earlier to work as senior brand innovation manager on cleaners. She is responsible for brand innovation among other things and launched Bloo Flowers umbrella brand this year. Previous experience includes Henkel, Sara Lee and P&G in UK and Europe.

 

Clare Allman, head of marketing UK, Ecover

Allman joined Ecover in 2000 and has built its marketing strategy to push the brand into the mainstream while maintaining its ecological credentials. Previous experience has included working at RHM on brands such as Mothers Pride and Hovis.

Winners and Losers in the furniture retail sector

Harpic. Reckitt Benckiser's brand has held on to its market leading position and 2012 has seen more NPD activity. It added Power Plus Citrus Fresh to the range this year.

Domestos. Its share was boosted by the 2011 launch of Domestos Germ Blaster rim block and Total Blast toilet gel and its supporting marketing campaign made Unilever biggest category advertiser in 2011.

Duck. SC Johnson's saw a small reduction in market share (2010-11) although sales were steady and it launched most new products in 2011 including Duck Fresh 3 in 1 Fresh Purple Wave Rimblock.

Source: Mintel