1. Household and laundry is worth £116m in impulse, growing 3.6% year-on-year
2. Social media sets the pace for trends
3. Seven out of ten cleaning occasions are all about speed
4. Space is a challenge in-store
5. Thirty-five per cent of household shoppers say they’re more likely to buy a product on PMP
6. Dishwash sales are a missed opportunity
1. Household and laundry is worth £116m in impulse, growing 3.6% year-on-year
There’s a tidy profit to be made in household cleaning and hygiene.
That’s because when Christmas is in the rear-view mirror, shoppers start to dream of sparkling homes – fuelling a combined household and laundry category worth £116m in impulse and growing 3.6% year-on-year.
And though it’s based on an age-old impulse to spring clean, new tech is changing the game thanks to the growth of home delivery in c-stores.
“Cleaning just sells really well through our home delivery,” says Natalie Lightfoot, owner of Londis Solo Convenience.
“The week after Christmas we make sure that we’re well-stocked with cleaning products, that the category is available and that we’re promoting it online. We’ve been doing this for five years and you can tell people are planning a big clean when you see them on our cleaning section online and it’s just ‘add to basket’, ‘add to basket’, ‘add to basket’.
This shopping choice is proof clean-minded consumers are approaching the category more strategically in 2025. After all, these days household can be a relatively spenny category – with more shoppers now thinking ahead and trying to get the best deals.
“Many shoppers are planning their shopping trips more rigorously than they were before the pandemic, as it helps them manage their budget and spend their money more efficiently,” says Matt Stanton, head of insight at DCS Group.
“Planned top-up missions are more valuable than distress missions [Lumina Intelligence Convenience Tracking Programme – L52we 5th Jan 25]. Retailers should therefore stock a full range of household and paper products to maximise basket size with planned top-up shoppers.”
2. Social media sets the pace for trends
“It really is the age of TikTok and other social media when it comes to cleaning trends,” explains Natalie.
“Mrs Hinch [the leading cleanfluencer who now has over 4.8 million followers on Instagram] has even influenced us a little bit – and we sell her Elbow Grease products now.”
She adds that the latest trend switched-on retailers are spying online is a fad for international fragrances: especially around Spanish cleaning [from brands like Asevi] and Dubai fragrances.
“It’s the kind of product that people discover on holiday and it’s all very fragrance-based – people go wild for them,” she adds.
“There’s also the trend for people rewarding themselves with a scented candle when their cleaning is finished, and we definitely do some of the wax melts.”
Howard Moss, CEO at Astonish, confirms that fragrance, wherever it hails from, looks to be a trend for the year ahead.
“Throughout 2025, fragrance will remain a key driver within the category as customers take pleasure in trying new fragrances as they clean their home,” he says.
“Another trend we may see is premiumisation, with products promising superior performance and luxury fragrances, likely to attract consumers seeking enhanced value in their purchases.”
3. Seven out of ten cleaning occasions are all about speed
Some shoppers apparently love watching online clips of cleanfluencers spending hours tidying up every nook and cranny of their house. But when it’s their own elbow grease, stats show people much prefer an efficient and speedy scrub-up IRL.
On the shelves this translates to making space for products that can be used across multiple jobs.
“Household and laundry shoppers are looking for products that do the job properly, first time [P&G research],” maintains Stanton.
“Seven out of ten cleaning occasions are ‘quick clean’ [and] trigger sprays and wipes are the most convenient formats for a quick clean.”
He namechecks value-for-money big brand options like Flash with Bleach, Flash Bathroom and Flash Kitchen as must-stocks, which all come in £2.49 PMP packs.
“The household cleaning market is dominated by multiple purpose and ‘other cleaning products’ which together account for approximately 80% of the market,” says Alex Lawrence, insight director at Circana.
4. Space is a challenge in-store
For household essentials the big challenges c-stores face are around space. Products tend to be pretty bulky, while shelves remain small. This is where the category benefits from a ruthless edit fuelled by an understanding of who your customers are and what they want.
“We had some support from Unilever after the pandemic which helped us rationalise our cleaning product range,” says Sue Nithyanandan from Costcutter Epsom.
“For example, we cut down on washing powder since millennials only want capsules because they don’t want to pour or have a mess.”
She adds that the rise in homeworking has led to less demand for laundry products, since people don’t feel they need to wash their clothes as often when their work colleague is the cat.
“Household cleaning should generally be merchandised by format, room and then specific task,” advises Stanton.
“For example, group all trigger sprays together, and then merchandise by room and task. As space in convenience stores is often extremely limited, we recommend covering as many shopper need states as possible before doubling up on product options. In this way, retailers can maximise the number of happy shoppers and grow shopper loyalty, as long as they stock the top-selling SKU for each need state.
“Once all the key shopper needs are covered, retailers can expand the range into more brands and product variants, to maximise conversion and drive trade-up.”
Moss adds that “enticing customers to pick an extra household product into their basket at a great price point should be a key focus.”
“Retailers should think about rotating products at the front of store and near the check out for that extra plus one item in baskets,” he says.
“Emphasising convenience is also essential – highlight quick access to everyday essentials in local stores.”
5. Thirty-five per cent of household shoppers say they’re more likely to buy a product on PMP
In these cost-conscious times, c-stores aren’t just competing against the mults. It’s also the high street discount names they’re having to keep an eye on.
“To be honest there’s absolutely no point competing with people like B&M on price,” says Natalie.
However, what retailers can do is offer regular promotions to showcase value and make sure shoppers return for a clean sweep.
“Promotions help us make decisions about what to stock,” she says.
“So we’ll swap out products for something else if there’s a promotion. For example, we might swap out one of our usual laundry pods for Persil because they’re on promotion, people see it as a good deal and it attracts customers.”
The category is complicated by the fact that it’s still dominated by brands. Despite price sensitivity, own-label accounts for just a 33% share of bleach and toilet cleaners, 21% of washing-up liquid and 13% of general household cleaning [Nielsen – Impulse – Value Sales – MAT Sep 2024].
Sue covers this by offering both the market-leading brands plus a Co-op own-label offer which she says is “core” to her business.
Elsewhere, PMPs can be a signal of value which also guarantees brand quality.
“PMPs are available on most products, and we always recommend these as they offer shoppers price confidence – particularly important during the ongoing cost-of-living crisis,” says Stanton.
6. Dishwash sales are a missed opportunity
Outside of TikTok trends cleaning can be a category retailers leave to tick over. Yet sometimes a bit of canny analysis can reveal unrealised growth.
Lawrence reckons this is what’s happening in dishwash.
“Symbols and independents have lost 0.4% of share of the dishwash category over the last 12 months,” he says.
“The loss is accelerating with the channel losing 0.7% of share in the last three months versus last year.”
He believes this is a missed opportunity. Especially since “the dishwash category is the cleaning category which has been most resilient to cost-of-living pressure with units still in growth versus last year and value sales up by nearly 9% year on year.”
“Therefore [it] should be a key focus for the symbol and independent retailers going forward.”
Wherever stores look to scrub up, Sue believes that the industry’s ability to change fast is a definite strength, in cleaning and beyond.
“Convenience stores have the ability to move much faster than the multiples and it’s a real strength in these kinds of categories where you’re meeting the needs of your customers,” she says.
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