Refill Products: Refilling for More Sustainability

The cleaning products are packaged in sachets, paper bags or tabs and filled with water in the same bottle: This is one of the newer sustainable packaging solutions in the hygiene and cleaning sector. Less packaging, ingredients that are as uncritical as possible, but lots of effect. At least that was the claim made by start-ups with refill products a few years ago.

In the meantime, the products seem to have found their place on retailers' shelves, whether as a private label or brand. However, the interim results are mixed, reports the Lebensmittel Zeitung (LZ).

The similar price level compared to ready-mixed products in larger containers may be one of the reasons why the breakthrough has so far failed to materialize, writes the LZ. Rossmann explains that price plays a very important role, especially for detergents, care and cleaning products. This is aggravated by the fierce competition in this segment. The market for cleaning products is dominated by the international groups Procter & Gamble, Unilever and Henkel. Start-ups such as Everdrop and Biobaula are trying to find a good place in the competitive market.

The Munich-based company Everdrop is one of the pioneers among manufacturers who want to reduce packaging waste in the household. The company, which has been active on the market since 2020, advertises that the tabs save on plastic, but “by no means on cleaning power”. The company takes a proactive approach to the sometimes poor test results in the past and regards them as teething troubles. “When we launched four years ago, the quality of many of our products was nowhere near as good as we and our customers would have liked. The performance was often far too weak,” the start-up writes on its website.

However, many environmentally conscious customers do not want to or cannot understand why these products are priced at the same level as the “normal” plastic bottle. After all, a large part of the packaging is eliminated. This is similar to the situation with completely unpackaged products. Although there is no packaging at all, this hardly changes the price.

Whether the customer accepts the concept or not depends not least on their personal preferences and habits. “It's not just the idea of sustainability that plays a role as a purchasing argument,” market researcher Kristin Becker from NielsenIQ (NIQ) told LZ. While some find it easier to reach for the finished product on the shelf, others find it more convenient to always mix the powder in the same container.

Sustainability Scores Points

“We are observing that sustainable product alternatives are becoming increasingly relevant for our customers across various product ranges,” says Marcel Rieser, responsible for the product range in the Marketing and Procurement department at dm. “Our aim is to offer them a diverse and up-to-date range in our assortment.” In addition, dm wants to continuously make the range more sustainable and continues to focus on innovative concepts such as cleaning tabs, powders or concentrates as well as cleaning and detergent sheets and more sustainable packaging solutions in order to conserve resources.

Even if the breakthrough is still a long way off: In the overall picture, there is at least no decline in refill detergents according to market data. In the past two years, turnover and sales shares have remained stable overall. According to NIQ, brand sales are growing faster than private label sales. In turn, sales of private labels are growing faster than those of brands. “This is of course also related to the price increase,” explains market researcher Becker. Refill sales increased by 6.3% for brands and 34% for private labels. The share of sales in the overall market is now 7.7 percent, while the sales share is 5.1 percent.