Over the past 10 years, Unilever has been at the forefront of innovation in the laundry market. Since the groundbreaking introduction of Persil tablets in 1998, a wealth of NPD and heavy marketing support has continued to add value.
Unilever has consistently looked for ways to reduce packaging, water usage and CO2 emissions without compromising on effectiveness.
The past 10 years have seen a growth in concentrates. The launch of the Comfort range in the late 70s set a trend for further compaction and environmental savings. Subsequent launch Comfort Concentrates offered double benefits - less shelf space for retailers and saved on packaging for consumers.
Small & Mighty, with launches across both Surf and Persil in 2007, has delivered incremental value. The revolutionary '2x concentrated' detergent is already worth £27m and has saved over 5.9 million litres of water in production and the equivalent of 43 million plastic shopping bags.
For consumers, efficacy is now a given, but they want additional sensory benefits too?. So Unilever has introduced Comfort Concentrates with 'fresh release technology' and Persil with 'active microcapsule technology'. Surf with Essential Oils has been a big success - Surf is the fastest growing value brand in the main wash category.
Has the number of customer complaints about the price of goods increased recently?
