Discover Cleaning Inside & Out

Good Housekeeping's Discover Cleaning: Inside & Out Summit, held the morning of Oct. 14, is a virtual event in partnership with the American Cleaning Institute (ACI) designed to address the cleaning habits and practices of today’s time-pressed consumers, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the initiatives the cleaning industry is taking around product safety, efficacy and transparency.
 
Manufacturers, journalists, retailers and anyone with an interest in cleaning joined the virtual event for meaningful and educational dialogues between science and industry experts, the media, trends forecasters, retailers and more. Key topics included the science of cleaning products, resources for ingredient information, misconceptions surrounding fragrance, and the world of “cleanfluencing”.

The market for disinfectants, kitchen sprays, scrubs and other household cleansers is booming in 2020. With global goals to sanitize surfaces and quell the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s been a banner year for household cleaning products.

A new national survey release from ACI revealed 86% of Americans are confident in their cleaning products to help protect against coronavirus. And, this confidence is particularly high among older adults (90% of those ages 55+ and 81 percent among those ages 18-34). Most Americans (92%) say they use disinfectants on surfaces in their homes. When thinking of life post-pandemic, more than half plan to continue wiping down surfaces more often and using disinfecting products such wipes and sprays.

This new consumer cleaning and hygiene research was presented as part of the American Cleaning Institute (ACI) and Good Housekeeping’s first-ever joint virtual summit. The survey, conducted in September 2020, was designed to tap consumer perceptions and actions around cleaning and disinfecting practices as it relates to the pandemic.

With the continued spread of COVID-19 and the coming cold and flu season, Americans are cleaning more than ever before. Nearly half of survey respondents say they will clean and disinfect more this flu season because of the cleaning, disinfecting and hygiene information put into practice due to the pandemic. The findings are from an Ipsos poll conducted Sept. 10-11, 2020 on behalf of ACI.

What was most “eye opening” to Good Housekeeping Institute Home Appliances and Cleaning Products Director Carolyn Forte in the 4,000 responses of the Good Housekeeping survey was that with the household cleaning practices that changed after the start of the pandemic, 45% of consumers said they will keep “some if not all” of the revisions in home care while 50% said they will keep all of the updated cleaning practices. Over 50% of respondents want their homes to be “absolutely clean” and the concern about germs are moving outside of the kitchen. And, 63% are doing more home care weekly!

“It’s no secret cleaning is having its moment,” said Forte about the home care category. “Consumers know more about contact time and how to sanitize the home effectively. secret that cleaning is having its moment. In the past eight months, consumers had to learn a lot on how to properly disinfect the home.”

Mintel research agrees that cleaning habits have changed prolifically in 2020.  According to Rebecca Cullen, senior household care analyst, Mintel, who presented the latest consumer research on how the pandemic is affecting home cleaning at the Discover Cleaning – Inside & Out summit.  

E-commerce is critical right now, with digitally native younger generations and virus-conscious older generations turning to online channels. Specifically, according to Cullen, there is an especially large opportunity for household cleaning manufacturers to reach Baby Boomers online, even with voice shopping for those who are visually challenged.

Physical and mental wellbeing, technology like social media apps and AI as well as sustainable lifestyles are also trend drivers in the household cleaning category, said Cullen. 

For more on the burgeoning household care sector—including a directory of new supplier ingredients—make sure to check out the November edition of Happi.