Purex Complete Debuts Next Month

Despite the dominance of P&G and the emergence of Sun Products in the U.S. laundry category, Dial isn’t ready to throw in the towel. Instead, the company will roll out sheets…3-in-1 sheets to be exact.

Next month Purex, a division of Henkel, will introduced Purex Complete, a 3-in-1 laundry sheet embedded with detergent, fabric softener and antistatic agents.

It’s a bold move in the U.S., where these convenient and compact products have never really caught on. For example, according to Euromonitor, U.S. sales of laundry tablets totalled just $2.8 milion last year.

Still, Dial executives hope the sheets will attract consumers who are often drawn to the latest innovations from P&G.

“The only way for a value brand like ours to remain relevant is to provide innovation that sets us apart,” said Brad Casper, Dial’s chief executive, told The Wall Street Journal. “That way [retailers will] keep us in stock, because they’ll miss something if they don’t.”

The new product will retail for $6-8 for a starter kit with 20 sheets and a pack of refills (24 sheets) will cost about the same.

The company hopes Purex Complete will convince consumers to try laundry additives. According to Dial’s estimates, only 75% of consumers use dryer sheets and only 50% use fabric softener.