NEW DELHI: Even as sales of groceries and daily essentials are no longer fast-moving, impacting growth of consumer goods companies, steady sales growth of the humble toilet cleaners seems to have come as a rare note of hope and cheer amidst a mostly grim economic scenario.
The toilet cleaners segment, which was growing at 5-6 per cent in the past few years, has seen a sudden surge of 13-14 per cent growth in quarterly sales since October 2014 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project Swachh Bharat was launched, data sourced from the industry showed.
In fact, companies such as Reckitt Benckiser, Dabur and Hindustan Unilever that own most big household cleaning brands in the country such as Lizol, Dettol, Harpic, Sanifresh, Domex and Colin have since invested heavily in spreading awareness on better hygiene products, driving demand for branded products.
Nearly 6.3 crore households used toilet cleaners during the quarter ended June compared with less than half or just 2.9 crore households during the same time in 2014, helped by rural markets.
“The overall surface cleaner category continues to grow at a steady pace. We have also seen a jump in demand for toilet cleaners led by rural India. To cater to the demand, Dabur has introduced a low unit price (LUP) 200 ml pack of its Sanifresh toilet cleaner, which has been driving demand growth,” Vineet Jain, marketing head - home care, Dabur India told The New Indian Express.
In India, Reckitt Benckiser dominates the toilet care space with its brand Harpic enjoying 70 per cent market share.
“This product has grown ahead of the market over the last five years on the back of sustained behaviour change programs focused on upgrading consumers from generic cleaners like phenyls and detergents to using specialized toilet cleaning solutions,” said Sukhleen Aneja, CMO & Marketing Director, RB Hygiene Home, South Asia.
Jain also noted that campaigns have gone a long way in creating awareness among people in the hinterlands on the need for healthy hygiene habits, drawing consumers more towards branded hygiene products.
However, the overall penetration for the category is still low, said Keshav Biyani, head-personal and home care, Future Consumer Limited.
“In contrast to most of the products being designed for western toilets, more than 80 per cent of the rural households still have access to Indian toilets. The price range of toilet cleaners is also a challenge that compels consumers to use traditional abrasives including acids rather than switching to branded toilet care products," he said.
Earlier this year, Future Consumer Limited has introduced a new product under CleanMate, a popular brand of toilet cleanser liquids and home cleaning products.
The product has been designed especially for cleaning Indian toilets and the price has also been kept lower at Rs. 80 a litre as compared to other products in the markets which is available at an average Rs.150 a litre, Biyani noted.