In an almost completely static market, the bathroom sector is enjoying a boom time. Specifically, it is the shower cleaning products that are causing the upsurge in sales.
Mr Muscle Shower Shine is leading the way with a revolutionary new product, the basic premise of which is to spray and walk. No actual cleaning and therefore very little time are required but of course spraying every day is recommended. With a relatively high pricepoint, those who are buying it are boosting sales quite considerably and it is the fastest growing product in this year's top 20 household goods.
As is often the case when a successful new product is developed, imitators soon follow and this is no exception. Flash Shower Mist and Dettox Daily Shower Clean have been launched but the latter particularly has struggled to outshine Mr Muscle.
Another relatively new format within multipurpose cleaning is wipes. Domestos Wipes have performed well, but are trailing in the wake of Flash Wipes, the earlier launch of which has so far proved to be the decisive factor in consumer purchasing. Flash Wipes have doubled their sales over the past year and have entered the table at no 6.
Antibacterial products are now present across most of the sectors in household cleaning, successfully playing on the health fears of the nation.
However innovative these developments may appear, though, the category is not growing as a result. All that is happening is that product type switching is occurring and standard liquid cleaners or gels are suffering at the hands of the latest fad.
One of last year's fastest growing brands was Ambi Pur Liquifresh rim block. The liquid format was the first of its kind and has done exceptionally well again this year to show further growth in excess of 23%.
Toilet Duck is its nearest rival in the liquid rim block sector, having built on its success as a specialist lavatory cleaner.
The only solid rim block to remain in our top 20 is Domestos, as more and more brands are moving over to the liquid format which, although more expensive, is possibly more effective and is available in a wider range of scents.
Of the biggest selling brands, Domestos Bleach is in decline but this is indicative of many bleaches. Sales of Parozone Bleach, for example, have fallen nearly 29% over the past year.
Sales of number two seller Flash Excel are being cannibalised by the emergence of Flash Wipes and Flash antibacterial cleaners. And sales of Jif Cream are down but not enough to rob the three powerful brands of their top rankings in the table.
It will be interesting to see how Unilever's decision to change the Jif name to Cif, in alignment with the rest of the world, will impact on the brand's sales over the next year.
Only one cistern block is showing any signs of challenging the liquid rim block domination and that is Jeyes Bloo. The company's £2m investment in relaunching the brand with new repackaging, reformulation, two new blocks in the range and a new ad campaign featuring the voice of camp comedian Julian Clary appears to have paid off.
Bloo has grown by 22.2% and with no other cistern blocks on the horizon, looks set to continue its supremacy.
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