Recently, I came across Anmol’s blogpost “Innovation in the Soap Industry – Is it really innovation?” and really appreciated his analysis and reality check approach.
Detergent are in mature product category therefore companies try to differentiate themselves from one another claiming “innovation” in every single product, being 3in1, 10in1, more concentrated or capsules instead of powder of liquid.
As Anmol suggest, the latter strategy had a big impact on the industry. The reason behind is that it provides better consumer experience – capsules avoid overuse of product, are easy to apply etc.
I agree with Anmol than rather than competing on the products features producers should focus on making their products more user-friendly; for exemple offering multi-dosage capsules of machine built-in systems would be one way of creating real value to customers by saving their time and energy. This kind of innovation would also likely create new product category (rather that keep competing in the mature category) and increase margins, unlike concentrating current detergents.
