Detergent sales shrinks amid pandemic as Indians put away their formal wear

Bengaluru: Amid the surge in demand for hygiene products because of the coronavirus pandemic, detergents appear to have taken a counterintuitive tumble. That’s because consumers have been forced to put away their office wear and expensive formals. Work from home (WFH) and the lack of socialising opportunities mean folks spend most of the day in comfort clothing — shorts, lounge pyjamas and T-shirts that require minimal cleaning, industry executives and researchers said. Many are also using lower-priced products.Hindustan Unilever, the country’s biggest laundry product maker, said laundry consumption has been hit due to people being confined indoors. “Therefore, some of the top-up purchases that we used to see when people used to step out have not come through to the levels that they should have,” HUL chief financial officer Srinivas Phatak said on an investor call. The country’s biggest consumer goods company reported a 16% growth in sales and 9% rise in profit in the September quarter on October 20.Sales growth of powder detergents nearly halved to 7% in the pandemic-hit April-September period against 12% in the year earlier, while liquid detergents expanded 13%, compared with 32% in 2019, said Euromonitor International.“Until 2019, the detergent category was riding on the wave of premiumisation where consumers were moving to liquid detergents and concentrated detergents even for everyday clothes,” said Amulya Pandit, consultant at Euromonitor International. “In 2020, consumers wear less delicate clothes and have limited money to spend.”The fall is more pronounced for premium offerings--both liquid fabric softeners and spot and stain removers grew 2%, against 13% and 10% each last year.Metro Cash & Carry India, the country’s largest wholesaler, said the laundry segment lost volumes in the initial weeks of the unlock months. “Despite a sub-category of ‘fabric sanitiser’ introduced to ride on the ‘safe and clean’ innovation, there has been a lukewarm response to this category,” said Arvind Mediratta, managing director of Metro Cash & Carry India. “Full recovery for the segment may take another six-eight months.” India imposed a lockdown on March 25. It has been relaxed in stages since May.Consulting firm Kantar Worldpanel, which tracks household consumption, said fabric softeners grew 56% in the March-August period against 84% in 2019, while the stain removers segment declined 36% compared with 10% growth last year by volume.“Given that these categories typically are upper SEC categories, the decline in stain removers can be attributed to people remaining at home, and not using formal attire as much as they typically use,” said K Ramakrishnan, South Asia managing director, Kantar Worldpanel.While HUL maintained it has not seen consumers moving to products with lower price tags, mass brands are seeing sales traction, which could be an early indicator of downtrading. The country’s largest laundry brand, Ghari, a mid-segment product, posted 10% sales growth over the last few months.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/3jgJvwc