Bleaches and disinfectants is a mature market that has shown a decline in retail value sales due to increasing competition from other products for the main cleaning tasks undertaken using these products, including other toilet care products and all-purpose, anti-bacterial cleaners. Raising prices that would boost value has also proved difficult, especially with limited scope for adding value.

More than eight out of ten main shoppers use bleach in their home, with only slightly fewer people using disinfectant. Heavy usage of bleach is, however, biased towards older age groups within the population.

Bleaches and disinfectants is a mature market that has shown a decline in retail value sales due to increasing competition from other products for the main cleaning tasks undertaken using these products, including other toilet care products and all-purpose, anti-bacterial cleaners. Raising prices that would boost value has also proved difficult, especially with limited scope for adding value.

More than eight out of ten main shoppers use bleach in their home, with only slightly fewer people using disinfectant. Heavy usage of bleach is, however, biased towards older age groups within the population.

While the getting rid of stains was seen as less important for disinfectant (31%) than bleaches (49%), 16-34-year-olds were more likely to consider this important for disinfectant. This suggests going forward disinfectant brands will need to focus on being all-purpose cleaning products to appeal to a younger generation of users who are less likely to see disinfectant purely for getting rid of germs.

With homes getting smaller and more open plan odour neutralisation and air care will become more important and a number of areas where disinfectants are used could benefit from leaving a pleasant fragrance, including bins, kitchen cloths and areas used by pets.

Getting a good price for thick bleach is not a problem for shoppers, with a wide range of ‘discount’ options available, including special offers and products from discount stores. Discount stores have prospered during the economic downturn and one in five users of bleach or disinfectant sometimes buys at discount outlets such as Wilkinson or the pound stores.

Both the media and advertising continue to bombard us all with messages about the dangers of germs lurking in every corner of the home and the overwhelming response among three quarters of the population is that we are all getting too obsessed with germs. An opportunity exists for more naturally-based cleaning products, such as probiotic ranges that just focus on killing harmful germs.

Cleaning products containing more natural ingredients could also benefit from concerns about the environmental impact of chemically-based cleaning products, although for the foreseeable future the fear factor is likely to remain a big driver of purchases of products to kill bacteria on a variety of items or surfaces in the home.