For many household cleaning companies, the global pandemic and subsequent lockdown orders provided a lift in sales due to rising consumer concerns about cleanliness. For example, Unilever’s $10 billion laundry care sales were flat in Q1 before COVID-19 swept around the globe, but third quarter sales were up 4% over 2019 levels. 
 
According to Seventh Generation Marketing Director John Moorhead, business was quite healthy before the pandemic and the results continue to support that trend.
 
“Consumers are staying home, and this has played the largest role in the performance,” he told Happi. “The good news is that consumers continue to vote with their dollars for biobased cleaners that actually work and brands that drive systemic change for personal and planetary health.”
 
When your company name invokes a Native American pledge to be a steward for the planet, that commitment is taken seriously. In fact, Seventh Generation notes that for more than 30 years, it has been on a mission to “create a more healthy, sustainable and equitable world for the generations to come—a mission is at the heart of everything we do.”
 
That’s one of the reasons behind the broad introduction of Seventh Generation’s Ultra Concentrated Easydose Laundry Detergent to brick-and-mortar retailers last year, which is going well, according to Moorhead. 
 
“The product delivers the wow factor in a low involvement category and we think it’s a big step forward for liquid laundry detergent. It’s a one-handed, super convenient and more sustainable solution,” he explained.
 
Seventh Generation combined an ultra-concentrated formula with a dosing cap that dispenses the right amount for a load of laundry with a single squeeze. The formula is 8X concentrated to deliver, according to Seventh Generation, the cleaning power for 66 loads of laundry in just 23 ounces, and that compares to the company’s base laundry that delivers 66 loads in 100oz, with 75% less material (50% less water, 60% less plastic and therefore 5.5 pounds less material per bottle). 
 
“We then added a super convenient dosing cap to help you measure the right amount every time. No mess, no fuss, and 80% less shelf space,” said Moorhead. “This is like fixing the ketchup experience for consumers and adding a massive dose of planetary love. Using this laundry detergent will actually decrease your carbon footprint!”
 
Moorhead noted that the cleaning aisle is one of the largest, if not the largest, plastic offender in the grocery store and it’s completely unnecessary. The most popular format, the 100oz bottle, sells roughly 90 million bottles of 100oz laundry detergent every year in America, and it’s a little over 20% of the market. 
 
“We can concentrate this form, deliver the same value to consumers, not charge more per wash, and take out 450 million pounds of waste per year,” he added. “If we concentrated the 150oz jugs – the largest form – we could get to almost 1 billion pounds of waste per year. If that wasn’t enough, retailers could have more shelf space to generate sales and profit and lower their plastic and carbon footprints. Seems like a good move, right?”
 
According to Moorhead, Ultra Concentrated Easydose is a good example of the company's Clean Future strategy—deliver more benefits to consumers with a much lower footprint. 
 
“Where we have the ability to change consumer behavior that enhances their lives without preaching to them, we will do that,” he added.
 
He called it leading by example and said the same goes for Seventh Generation’s suppliers, who have to change, too. 
 
“The power of this strategy from a company of our size is that biobased solutions will not be a distant hope, it will have to be a plan for now,” explained Moorhead. “If Tesla has accelerated the adoption of electrification, I sure hope Unilever’s commitment will accelerate the transformation to better way to deliver hygiene.”
 
Unilever’s continued to commitment to sustainable solution is the path to growth. In fact, a result study by McKinsey & Co., found a low-carbon, post-pandemic recovery could not only significantly reduce emissions, but also create more jobs and economic growth. McKinsey Senior Partner Dickon Pinner insists that the next decade is decisive for climate action: warmer temperatures during the next 10 years will bring greater risk of physical and economic hazards. And after 2030, the pace of warming depends on human actions, requiring a collaborative response to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
 
“Confronting climate change was critical even before COVID-19,” explained Pinner. “Now, as we work to protect lives and livelihoods from both the public-health and economic crisis as a result of the outbreak, investments in climate-resilient infrastructure and the transition to a lower-carbon future can drive the post-pandemic recovery by providing significant near-term job creation and increasing economic and environmental resiliency for the long term.”

According to McKinsey, research has shown that climate change can actually contribute to pandemics. For example, rising temperatures can create favorable conditions for the spread of certain infectious, mosquito-borne diseases, such as malaria and dengue fever. Addressing climate change now can help companies become more resilient for the future.
 
But for now, the pandemic had an initial impact on fabric care trends. Moorhead noted overall, laundry consumption has remained pretty steady post the stock-up phase in March and April, but the jury is still out longer term.
 
“While a lot of consumers are home there are a lot of essential workers, teachers and families that don’t have that option and are needing to clean more,” noted Moorhead.
 
Longer term, COVID-19 has given consumers an appreciation for clean homes and clean clothes that is not going away. Moorhead said consumers questions about the health and sustainability of those products have only been enhanced by COVID-19. 
 
“The biggest change will be how consumers shop—the e-commerce evolution has turned into an ecommerce revolution and the ease with which consumers can make decisions and solve problems online is almost insatiable,” said Moorhead. “We have been focused on this for some time and are ready, but it’s hard to imagine any other, more permanent change in the long-term.”
 
Taking a long-term outlook is only natural for a company that’s on a mission to create a more healthy, sustainable and equitable world for the next seven generations and beyond.