Welcome to the Wholesale Manager Spring Cleaning feature, with news from the UK’s major suppliers of household cleaning products. At this time of year these products come into their own as distress purchases in independent retail outlets, so here’s a seasonal update.
There’s a distinct psychological aspect to Britain’s household cleaning habit – when consumers are upbeat about life, they’re more likely to come and find the right products to make their homes sparkle. Adam Rodgers, UK Sales Director at RB, is not convinced: he says while the upturn in the economy doesn’t make cleaning any more popular, it is one of those things that simply has to be done, when the urge to ‘just do it!’ strikes.
In our rain-soaked islands, when the spring sunshine finally comes consumers run for the cleaning cupboard when they notice how dirty their homes are looking.
The manufacturer of some of the country’s leading household brands, RB continues to invest in NPD and marketing support across its brands and remains the UK’s third largest TV advertiser. When it comes to household and laundry products RB UK’s advice is that there are key times of year when household cleaning products need to ‘shine’ out.
The first is when the Christmas celebrations are done and those decorations come down at the beginning of January. The next big date for Spring Cleaning is when the clocks go forward. This year it was on Sunday March 30th, the start of the traditional ‘Spring Clean’ period. That’s when the days are getting longer and the early spring sunshine shows up the grubby windows and paintwork after the winter, and people feel they really can’t leave it a day longer to do something about it!
For working mums with school age children, keeping the house as clean as they’d like is a holy grail, like keeping the kids’ rooms tidy. So another peak time for cleaning is before school break up for the summer holidays – last chance to get the house ready for when the children are at home, and time is at a premium. Perhaps the kids might like to clean their rooms? Perhaps not… The next big peak is in September after the summer holidays, when mum next has access to the kids’ rooms. And bringing things full circle, in December there’s the necessary job of getting the home ready again for Christmas.
So the bottom line is, make the most of the Spring Cleaning opportunity, but keep your household products well signposted to remind your retail customers they’re there – not just in spring!
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