Powder detergents account for about 80% of Romania’s detergent consumption, but liquid detergent is the future, as shown by sales thereof in the West. One of the categories with significant growth is detergent pods.
For instance, the liquid detergent segment will increase in Romania in the coming years, following the trend in the rest of Eastern Europe.
“I think the pod segment will reach 20% to 25% of the market in the next five years,” the executive attending the P&G Future Fabrics even in Barcelona said.
The company has noticed that in some countries in the Balkans, Romania included, these pods sell very well in traditional retail stores, because they sell them by piece. The category accounts for about 5% to 10% of the market, the executive added.
P&G is one of the largest players on the global FMCG market and its brand portfolio includes Ariel, Tide, Lenor (fabric care), as well as personal and household care products.
The biggest market in Eastern Europe is Russia, but Robert van Pappelendam says markets like Ukraine, Poland and Romania are important, too.
“Romania is an important market to us.”
It is one of the most successful markets for P&G in terms of laundry detergents. Many good ideas first came up in Romania and were then exported to other markets, the P&G VP said.
Romanian consumers spend EUR190 million a year on laundry detergent, a market dominated by P&G and Unilever, and private labels of major retail chains, according to market research company Euromonitor.
The fabric cleaning product market stands at EUR15 billion to EUR20 billion a year in Europe, according to P&G data. The market is relatively stable, but it grows in volume and declines in value, Robert van Pappelendam added.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)