The detergent and cleaning products market - Italy

1.1 Definition and scope of study

The cleaning products market is an extremely complex market, shared between many demand players, which may be private individuals or professional actors, but also characterized by a very large offer and many product families. Consumer hygiene represents a large portion of the cleaning products market in Italy: this is why this study focuses mainly on cleaning products for individuals. 

The Italian market for detergents and cleaning products has been witnessing a constant downturn since 2011, with a cumulative decrease until 2017 of -11%. The recent time span though registered a slow growth, in 2019 it experienced +0.9% increase in value. The market presents differences in terms of geographies, product categories and distribution channels. 

There are extensive differences in growing evolution in relation to the distribution channels, drugstores in fact appear to have been in 2019 the only store format to experience growth (+6.4%). An important determinant of the market evolution is its structure: highly concentrated in the hands of a few multinationals, with the first 5 players owning circa 56% of the industry sales. Moreover, the market is very strongly characterized by product innovation, which is driving the performance of entire categories, but also by the gradual migration of supply and demand towards a greener and more ecological sub-segment, although this remains a minority on the shelf for the time being. The outbreak of COVID-19 has been positive for the market, with all product categories experiencing fast growth compared to the previous year between +14%-+18%. 

1.2 The global market

The global household cleaning products market is projected to grow from $***.** billion in **** to $***.** billion in **** at a CAGR of *.*% in the forecast period.

The Covid pandemic has boosted the demand for products in **** and this has been driving the market in the following period. Rising attention to hygiene has been ...

1.3 The Italian market

The market of household cleaning products is well established in Italy: the country has one of the most relevant productions at the European level.

According to Cerved data, the detergent and cleaning products sector grew moderately in ****, recording a value of around *.* billion euros and an increase of *.*% compared to the ...

1.4 Imports and exports

 s mentioned previously, the Italian production is very relevant at the European level. This is reflected in the coverage rate of the country: exports value considerably more than imports, ****.* million USD in ****, versus a value of imports of ***.* million USD in the same year. Exports have been rising for years, with ...

1.5 COVID-19 Impact

The COVID-** pandemic has had devastating effects on many markets and industries. Due to the nature of the virus (***) sanitary measures have been put in place, the most significant of which have been the government-mandated closures that have kept people at home and stopped most economic activities. Italy, being the first ...

2.1 Characteristics of the demand

Italians attribute major importance to their home, both because of a withdrawal of sociality towards a more intimate and personal dimension and because of the need for warmth and protection that the home naturally evokes as opposed to the outside word. This results in a cultural attachment to the state of ...

2.2 Consumer profile and habits

The Italian cultural attention to tidiness and cleanness of the house offers a potential demand on the rise, with customers looking for products to help them in the care of their home.

B*C

From a survey conducted by Houzz, it emerged that a good **% of Italians prefer to carry out ...

2.3 Drivers of demand

The Italian attention to hygiene

The cultural ways of the country definitely represent a driver for the market, with the customer habits described before constituting a solid and rising demand.

The following graph represents the comparison in opinion on cleanliness and hygiene, measured by a survey conducted by Vileda. The difference ...

2.4 New trends: sustainability and eco-friendly prodcuts

The sensitivity of companies and consumers towards the development of eco-friendly Ecolabel products is growing more and more. They have for the moment a low market penetration, but a good growth potential, showing above-average growth rates (***).

The consumption habits are changing and this is affecting the demand: a recent survey showed ...

3.1 Market structure

As. the following graph shows, the market is driven by the sales of chemical products by companies: these hold **.*% of value, with another **.*% of consumables.

Breakdown of turnover of detergents and cleaning products companies Italy, ****, in % Source: ****

 In terms of geographical scope, the market is composed of mainly local companies ...

3.2 Value chain

A scheme of the value chain is presented below. 

3.3 Distribution channels

 The following graph shows the sales channel used by the cleaning products companies t reach the B*B business. As the graph shows, most companies employ agents and direct sales as their main method of business development.

Sales channel used by detergents and cleaning products companies Italy, ****, in % Source: ****

E-commerce

Among ...

3.4 Main players

The markets is driven by national companies that maintain a local scope. However, Italy also hosts some bigger players such as:

Arco Chimica Itidet  Allegrini S.p.a. Diversey Gruppo Kemika Dianos 

As the graph below shows, the two most used legal forms are individual entrepreneurs, indicating the presence of many ...

4.1 Overview of the offer

The products for home cleaning are many and with different scopes: e can categorize them by the area of use, which is usually characterized y different needs in terms of chemical principles and materials.

Detergents for the kitchen

The kitchen is a delicate and particular environment, prone to store dirt, crumbs, ...

4.2 Prices

Cleaning products are many and differ largely from each other: multipurpose cleaners might be very cheap (***), while products such as laundry detergents can cost up t * euros or more.

Prices, therefore, vary according to the product's purpose and dimension. However, it is interesting to analyze the difference in prices between the ...

5.1 Regulation

On October *, ****, Regulation (***) No. ***/**** of the European Parliament and of the Council of March **, ****, on detergents came into force. The Regulation provides technical criteria for unifying the legislation of the various Member States with regard to the placing on the market of detergents and of surfactants for detergents.

For the purposes ...

6.1 Segmentation

• Arco Chimica
• Itidet
• Allegrini
• Kemika
• Diversey
• Procter & Gamble