November 5, 2024
(press release)
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Rising environmental awareness among the Asia-Pacific (APAC) consumers is fueling demand for eco-friendly laundry detergents, as buyers increasingly prefer products with sustainable packaging and chemical-free, biodegradable formulations. A growing aversion to traditional chemical-based detergents, due to their adverse effects on ecosystems and marine life, is accelerating this shift, making sustainability a crucial factor in laundry detergent purchasing decisions across the region, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. Naveed Khan, Consumer Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Eco-friendly detergent formulations with ingredients such as plant extracts, essential oils, enzymes, and natural preservatives are becoming increasingly popular. These ingredients are perceived by consumers to have low to no environmental impact, throughout the product lifecycle from production till disposal.” GlobalData 2024 Q3 Consumer Survey* corroborates this trend, where 80% of the consumers in Asia & Australasia regard “sustainable/environmentally friendly” attributes in product purchases as either essential or nice to have. In the same survey, 79% consider the same for “recyclable packaging” tags. In response, detergent manufacturers are making their production process sustainable and ecologically friendly to attract consumers. For instance, in Malaysia, Ouji Seiyaku introduced a detergent liquid under its Fab Zero brand name. According to the company, the product is biodegradable and contains plant-derived ingredients such as alkyl glycoside from corn fermentation extract. Similarly, in Singapore, Watson’s Personal Care Stores launched Orita-branded laundry detergent with 97% biodegradable ingredients, which includes coconut oil. Deepak Nautiyal, Consumer and Retail Commercial Director, APAC and ME at GlobalData, adds: “Consumers seek environmentally friendly packaging as concerns about increasing packaging wastes, which end up in landfills and oceans, polluting the region’s land, water, and air, mounts. Thus, packaging features such as zero plastic packaging, 100% recyclable packaging, and biodegradable packaging are increasingly offered by manufacturers to capitalize on the growing consumer concerns.” In line with this, in Malaysia, sustainable detergent brand, The Laundry Pods, introduced its line of bio-enzyme laundry pods with plastic-free packaging. Similarly, in Singapore, Bio-Home branded Laundry Sheet Detergent with completely dissolvable detergent sheets packed in paperboard box was awarded the WorldStar Award at the 2024 Singapore Packaging Star Awards. Khan concludes: “Increasing consumer demand for sustainable and ecologically safe options will create new growth opportunities for manufacturers to improve their shares. However, incorporating sustainable aspects, ingredients, and materials in the production process will require more investments. Thereby striking the right balance between increasing production costs and keeping prices competitive while compromising on margins will be challenging for manufacturers.” *GlobalData 2024 Q3 Consumer Survey – Asia & Australasia, published in October 2024, included 6,131 respondents
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