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Consumer Behavior and Fascinating Challenges on Household Laundry and

Dishwashing

Article  in  Tenside Surfactants Detergents · November 2016

DOI: 10.3139/113.110449

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 CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

y Das Geetha and Rashmi Tyagi

Consumer Behavior and Fascinating

Challenges on Household Laundry
and Dishwashing

Intense research in household cleaning offers more innovative Wirtschaftlichkeit, Umweltverträglichkeit sowie dem rückläufi-
cleaning solutions. Over the half of consumers worldwide favor gen Interesse an der Verwendung von traditionellen Flüssig-
functionality over \natural" and \multipurpose" claims in und Pulverwaschmitteln. Markenwert und -integrität erwiesen
Tenside Surfactants Detergents downloaded from www.hanser-elibrary.com by Hanser - Library on November 18, 2016

household care products. Due to rapid urbanization, emergence
of small pack size, current environmental pressures and price es-
calation of petrochemical feedstock, the demand for sustainable
laundry and dishwashing products is developing rapidly. The
user-centered researches revealed that the increase in per capita
income and wide range of choices, greatly influence consumers
interactions with products as expenditure for household laundry
and increase the number of sophisticated consumers. Dish-
washing accounts for barely more than 0.5 % of total per capita
expenditure. Low energy as well as water consumption, high
performance values are very important for the consumers when
purchasing automatic washing appliances. Multi-usability and
efficiency capture continuously the attention of the consumers
For personal use only.
sich überraschenderweise ebenfalls als wichtig. Die Forschun-
gen ergaben, dass viele Verbraucher Haushaltsgeräte mit gerin-
gem Wasser- und Energieverbrauch bevorzugen. Da gemäß den
Statistiken die Hälfte des Gesamttensidverbrauchs aus Haushalts-
anwendungen, speziell der Haushaltswäsche und des Geschirr-
spülens, stammt, wird erwartet, dass die auf natürlichen Pro-
dukten basierenden und aus Biomasse erzeugten Tenside den
Reinigungsmarkt weiter antreiben werden.
Stichwörter: Verbraucherverhalten, asiatische Verbraucherinter-
essen, europäische Verbraucherinteressen, amerikanische Ver-
braucherinteressen, Geschirrspülgewohnheiten, Grüner Trend
bei Reinigen

in large scale in the sense of economic viability, environmental

feasibility and reverted interest to use traditional liquid and
powder detergents. Brand value and integrity proves to be also 1 Introduction
surprisingly important. Researches revealed that many consu-
mers prefer household appliances with low water and energy The consumer interest in prioritizing the choice of the pro-
consumption. As per the statistics, since half of the total surfac- duct may differ from people to people which is highly based
tant consumption belongs to household applications particularly on the demographic factors, psychographic factors and be-
dishwashing and laundry washing, the natural product based havioral factors and are indicated in Fig. 1 [1]. The study of
surfactants produced from biomass are expected to continue to consumer behavior does not only include reasons for buying
drive cleaning market. but also the consumption process of the consumer. Thus,
the consumer behavior got driven by influences such as feel-
Key words: Consumer behavior, asian consumers interests, ing, motivation, income, lifestyle, opinion, culture, personal-
european consumers interests, american consumers interests, ity etc. Neverthless, in household laundry washing and dish-
dishwashing habits, green trend in cleaning washing, restoring cleanliness must be their common and
topmost priority. Nowadays, the conveniences, safety, perfor-
mance along with sustainable cleaning are becoming the
Verbraucherverhalten und faszinierende Herausforderun- immediate needs of the home care cleaner market [2 – 5].
gen der Haushaltswäsche und des Geschirrspülens. Die in- In today’s scenario, the home care sector continuously
tensive Forschung im Bereich der Haushaltsreinigung bietet face challenges in creating customer loyalty and evolve to
mehr innovative Reinigungslösungen. Über die Hälfte der Ver- meet ever increasing consumer demand by keep pace with
braucher weltweit bevorzugen Funktionalität gegenüber Claims change [2, 6]. Due to the masculinization of women’s do-
wie ,,natürlich\ und ,,Mehrzweck\ bei Haushaltsreinigungspro-
dukten. Aufgrund der schnellen Urbanisierung, des Auftretens
von kleinen Verpackungsgrößen, der aktuellen Umweltbelastun-
gen und der Preissteigerung von petrochemischen Rohstoffen,
entwickelt sich die Nachfrage nach nachhaltigen Waschmitteln
und Geschirrreinigern rasant. Die verbraucherbezogenen Unter-
suchungen ergaben, dass die Zunahme des Pro-Kopf-Einkom-
mens und die breite Auswahlpalette die Verbraucherbeziehun-
gen zu den Produkten und die Ausgaben für Haushaltswäsche
stark beeinflussen und auch die Anzahl der anspruchsvollen Ver-
braucher erhöhen. Geschirrspülen macht kaum mehr als 0,5 %
des gesamten Pro-Kopf-Einkommens aus. Geringer Energie-
und Wasserverbrauch sind für die Verbraucher als hohe Anreize
beim Kauf von automatischen Haushaltsgeräten sehr wichtig.
Mehrfachnutzung und -effizienz erobern weiterhin die Auf- Figure 1 Conceptual framework for the consumer behavior in household
merksamkeit der Verbraucher in großem Ausmaß im Sinn der laundry/dish washing [3]

568 ª Carl Hanser Publisher, Munich Tenside Surf. Det. 53 (2016) 6

 Das Geetha and Rashmi Tyagi: Consumer behavior and fascinating challenges on household laundry and dishwashing
mestic labor, a gap between men’s and women’s average
time spent in unpaid work like home laundry and dishwash-
ing has decreased [2, 6, 7]. Thus it increases the demand of
significant change in the out-sourcing of domestic cleaning
services [7]. During the last 10 years, there has been an opti-
mization of the household washing processes in terms of
energy and resource efficiency. In fact, the needs and expec-
tations of the consumers have recently been more diverse.
People spend less time doing household chores and concern
themself less with performance differences of conventional
products [1, 8]. In general, the enormous increase in the en-
vironmental awareness leads to new regulations on cleaning
product release management, energy and resource saving.
Particularly, the homecare sector has been increasingly regu-
lated and tightened biodegradability requirements in the ac-
tive ingredients of washing detergents. While considering
these constraints, cost is also an important factor and forces
Tenside Surfactants Detergents downloaded from www.hanser-elibrary.com by Hanser - Library on November 18, 2016
manufacturers for offering a cheaper alternative with satisfy-
ing properties without compromising their eco concerns.
That is, detergent companies are always looking for ways to
improve the formula of household laundry and dishwashing
products as per the consumer needs.
Laundry washing and dishwashing have been among an
individual’s important task in their day-to-day activities. De-
tergents occupy an important role in those tasks. The surfac-
tants detergents become an inevitable part in fabric care and
home care products. Surfactants are amphiphilic organic
molecules, used in detergents, intentially added to achieve
cleaning, rinsing and fabric softening due to its relative sur-
face active properties [9 – 16]. As the name itself indicated
For personal use only.
the laundry care products intended to clean and treat cloth-
ing, there are variations in their specific uses viz., laundry
detergents, fabric softeners, bleach, fabric protector and spe-
cialty products such as pre wash additives, fine washable de-
tergent and starch.
The laundry detergents formulated for washing clothes
typically contain detergent surfactants. The detergents are
the cleaning formulations, which may not fully remove all
of the stains, but produced clean stuffs while washing. To
improve the washing performance, builders (phosphates,
carbonates, citrates, aminocarboxylates, organics, silicates,
polycarboxylates), bleaching agents, enzymes and fillers in
various proportions are added to the detergents [1]. The
cleaning products are available in a variety of packages in
the form of powder, tablets, liquids or paste [17].
This review has been written to highlight the consumer
behavior on household laundry and dishwashing. Better un-
derstanding of consumer behavior will help in developing
strategies for successful marketing and thus enhancing the
sustainability of home care sector.
2 Consumer behavior/perception in homecare laundry/
dishwashing
Consumer behavior is defined as activities that people un-
dertake when overtaking, consuming and disposing of pro-
duct and services [17]. Consumer preferences and selection
towards a cleaning product are influenced by individual’s
moral values, ideological characteristics, philanthropic im-
pulses and sense of common destiny with family, clan, tribe,
ethnic group or other forms of community [18, 19]. More-
over, consumer purchasing behaviors are not permanently
fixed and often change over time depending on the purchas-
ing trends of the consumers. Consumer purchasing behav-
ior, on the other hand, become the decision making process
and physical, mental and emotional activities involved while
selecting, purchasing, using and disposing of either pro-
Tenside Surf. Det. 53 (2016) 6
ducts or services [19, 20]. Thus, the significant factors that
have an influence on the consumer purchasing behavior
are personal (demographics), psychological (motives, aware-
ness, knowledge, perception, personality, lifestyle, attitude)
and social (opinion, culture, reference groups) [21].
Various models discussed the influences of the specific life-
styles of consumer, production and consumption system and
psychological motives on household laundry and dishwash-
ing and how they indirectly impact the usage of resources
[22, 23]. Figure 2 represents the Blackwell’s model of consu-
mer decision making. This model was created to describe
the increasing, fast growing body of knowledge concerning
consumer behavior and consists of four stages: viz input,
information processing, decision variables and variables in-
fluence decision process. The inputs include marketing sti-
muli and other stimuli which include promotion, price, and
quality. The second stage is the information processing stage
which includes attention, exposure, comprehension, accep-
tance and retention. The information that they get through
these stimuli gets stored in their memory and they use it
for the decision making process which includes steps like
problem recognition, search of alternatives, evaluation of al-
ternatives, purchase, consumption and post consumption
evaluation which leads to satisfaction or dissatisfaction. The
variables influencing the decision process are classified as en-
vironmental influences and individual differences. In this
case, the environmental influences can be social class and
family influences and individual differences can be the moti-
vation factor, knowledge, attitude and believes [8, 18]. It is
also evident that stresses on water conservation issues [22,
24], energy demand and related CO2 emissions also indirectly
impact on consumer choices [25 – 28]. Pakula and Stam-
minger estimate that 20 000 000 000 m3 water and about
100 TWh of electricity are annually consumed worldwide for
laundry washing in a washing machine. Also, the consumers
do not fully use the rated capacity of their washing machine.
The measurement study shows that for an average washing
machine capacity of 5 kg, consumers consider an average
load of 3,7 kg to be a full load [22, 28].
Consumer preferences vary significantly from country to
country particularly when it comes to detergent formats
and brand images [29]. It is decided by the ways by which
they wash their clothes/dishes [30]. Many parts of the world
are still using hand dishwashing formats mostly liquids [24].
Understanding the dynamics that go through a potential
customer’s thought process before a potential purchase to
become a customer, will allow businesses to capture a share
of any market. By actively taking cognizance and developing
strategies that allow a ’capturing’ of a potential customer, a
new business venture can obtain a larger client base and
brand loyalty, thus enjoying organic growth [1].
The analysts forecast the global laundry cares market to
grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 5 % dur-
ing 2014 – 2019 [31, 32]. The country-wise analysis is given
below.
2.1 Household laundry habits in various countries
2.1.1 India
The Indian consumer markets pose fascinating challenges.
The development of modern urban life style, rise of disposa-
ble income, economic growth and increase in consumer
awareness have affected the buyer behavior in cities, towns,
even rural areas [30, 31]. The Indian purchase of washing
products are mainly determined by price, quality, fragrance
and promotion [1, 32].
569
 Das Geetha and Rashmi Tyagi: Consumer behavior and fascinating challenges on household laundry and dishwashing
India is a country with a population of 1 030 million peo-
ple. According to the study reports, India is set to grow into
the fifth largest consumer market in the world by 2025 with
$1.5 trillion value worth detergent industry [1, 32]. In India,
people belonging to different income levels and rural con-
sumers constitute of 70 % of population used different
brands and formats. Fabric care and wash market have a
very promising future in India, with the growing population
and rising income levels of the middle class consumers
[1, 32, 33]. According to India News Network Digest, 1994,
in those earlier days, Indians prefer the bar format over the
powder since they felt the rubbing action is essential for ef-
fective cleaning. The simple shift at the more traditional end
of the laundry market, away from bar soaps to more sophis-
ticated hand washing detergents, is a small but important
indicator of India’s consumer revolution [1]. The consumers
Tenside Surfactants Detergents downloaded from www.hanser-elibrary.com by Hanser - Library on November 18, 2016
can spend more part of their disposable income in keeping
their clothes clean by using different products that are
offered by the fabric care and wash market. Detergent
brands in India are continuously upgrading their products
to cater the increasing demand of quality washing powders
such that they could offer a host of benefits in a single
wash [1]. The Indian washing powder markets in 2010 was
3,364 000 tones. The Indian rural demand for washing pow-
der has increased by 83 % in last ten years [1, 33]. The info-
For personal use only.
Figure 2 Blackwell’s model of consumer decision making [8]
570
graphic studies revealed that consumers from Indian cities
prefer more sophisticated, branded products whereas low/
middle income consumers prefer unbranded or low priced
brand products. Consumers from the region of low levels
of urbanization need economy brands. Affluent urban con-
sumers are open to trying new products – automatic deter-
gents and consumers of high level of education who have
product awareness prefer mid priced premium products for
their laundry uses [33].
Growing awareness about hygiene and healthy living has
led to high demand for laundry care items. They are not
only used for cleaning clothes but also used to prevent fab-
rics from being damaged. The demand for liquid detergent,
fabric conditioners and fabric softeners has increased across
the world [1]. Indian consumers generally associated heat
with hygiene and thus only washed clothes in hot water
when someone was ill. Also, according to Euromonitor In-
ternational (2013), almost 73.8 % of consumers in India are
using LDP (Laundry detergent powder) for both hand and
machine wash. The detergent market in India is expected
to have a growth rate of 7 – 9 % per year in terms of volume
[1].
The detergent market in India is divided into three seg-
ments viz., premium, mid-range and popular. The market
share of the detergents in the premium segment is 15 %
Tenside Surf. Det. 53 (2016) 6
 Das Geetha and Rashmi Tyagi: Consumer behavior and fascinating challenges on household laundry and dishwashing
and that of the mid-range and popular are 40 % and 45 % re-
spectively. These detergent brands are considered organized
players in the industry and comprise 60 % of the total mar-
ket. The remaining 40 % of the market is saturated with re-
gional and small unorganized markets [1, 32, 33]. Larger ci-
ties have a higher penetration of washing machines. But
Urban India accounts for only 33 % of the population and
27.5 % householders own a washing machine. Moreover al-
most all washing machine owners generally choose short
washing cycles to save time and effort [33]. There is still little
gaps in Indian laundry knowledge i. e., hand wash deter-
gents are also used in washing machines [1, 33].
2.1.2 Malaysia
Based on the current recorded Malaysian population of
29.91 million, the calculated market size for laundry deter-
Tenside Surfactants Detergents downloaded from www.hanser-elibrary.com by Hanser - Library on November 18, 2016
gents is 110,000 metric tons. According to the pilot survey
[1], conducted in Malaysia towards the consumer prefer-
ences and purchase behavior for laundry detergents, 43 %
urban consumers prefer liquid detergents, followed by 36 %
normal powder and 21 % concentrated powder. In contrast,
lower income respondents prefer normal powders (53 %)
with the thrust to use liquid formats. Moreover, consumers
from all age groups about 94 % prefer oleo based detergents
than the petrochemical based products. Surprisingly, the en-
vironmental concerns towards purchasing the green pro-
ducts were found to be greater in the female consumers
than that of male consumers [1, 2].
In Malaysia, detergent in the form of powder is still the
For personal use only.
preferred format for laundry detergent although there is an
increasing market pressure from liquid detergents due to
economic reasons. Generally, in Asia, the evolution in the
detergent consumption habits and improvement in the stan-
dard of living due to modernization are the contributing fac-
tors that drive significant growth in the laundry detergent
business [1].
2.1.3 China
China’s demand for Laundry Care Products has grown at a
fast pace in the past decade. In the next decade, both pro-
duction and demand will continue to grow [1]. The Chinese
economy maintains a high speed growth which has been
stimulated by the consecutive increases of industrial output,
import & export, consumer consumption and capital invest-
ment for over two decades. The most commonly used pro-
duct for laundry is detergent powder viz. 67 % use it in the
machine and 54 % use it for hand wash, followed by 34 %
liquid detergents for machine wash and 34 % bars for hand
washing [34]. The least popular choice for both (machine
wash and hand wash) is a 2-in-1 detergent and fabric condi-
tioners. Generally, infant and children clothes are hand
washed and pre-treated and delicate materials like wool are
pre-rinsed while machine wash. In China, still hand wash-
ing is more common than machine wash. Moreover, Chi-
nese consumers require some safety, healthy, potential solu-
tion for removing stains and prefer washing products to
avoid excessive rubbing [34].
2.1.4 Europe
In Western Europe, detergents in the form of liquid are very
popular than powders which is indicated by its expanding
shares. Tablets and sachets are relatively new product for-
mats in the market but they are highly preferred and suc-
cessful in the United Kingdom and other countries in the
Tenside Surf. Det. 53 (2016) 6
European Union [35]. These detergent formats are widely
preferred because of their convenient use with front-loading
washing machines since the number of households owning
washing machine still increasing in European countries. In
fact, the statistical studies revealed that the washing ma-
chine ownership of households in Europe is almost 100 %
[36]. The trend of lower wash temperatures has given rise
to an increase in liquid detergents or powder detergents
with high solubility. Some powders without water-insoluble
zeolite, have also minimized solubility problems at lower
temperatures.
Moreover, consumer survey report from ten European
countries (Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Sweden, Hun-
gary, Finland, Italy, Spain, Poland and Germany) covering
almost 75 % of the population revealed a very high level of
awareness of the consumer towards the environmental as-
pects [37].
2.1.5 USA
In present scenario, doing the family laundry consumes
only a fraction of the time and effort it demanded on the
past due to the introduction of technology [7, 17]. The fact
that family laundry remains a domestic task today rather
than a commercial service industry is a significant socio-his-
torical anomaly. The development of a communal and/or
commercial laundry industry could actually reduce the bur-
dens of laundry for a wider range of Americans than the
dominant practice of private ownership of laundry appli-
ances allows. Many low-income families are forced to use
coin operated Laundromats – an expensive alternative to pri-
vate ownership of washers and dryers – because the pur-
chase of washers and dryers requires larger sums of disposa-
ble income and/or access to \credit."
In the last ten years, liquid detergents in the United
States have grown to their almost 70 % market share and
this volume has triggered changes in surfactants usage.
Alkyl ether sulfate (AES) consumption is increasing more
rapidly than any other surfactant including linear alkyl sul-
fonate (LAS). The trend in the part few years might be due
to the federal legislation on low – water use efficiency stan-
dards for residential washing machines. Two surfactants,
methyl-branched alkyl sulfate (AS) and so-called modified
LAS (MLAS), were developed and will meet the demands of
U.S consumers. Methyl-branched AS was developed to im-
prove detergency and especially to dissolve powder deter-
gents quickly [35].
The market for green household cleaning products in the
U.S grew at a blistering pace between 2007 and 2010, cooled
off, and actually declined from 2010 to 2014 at a compound
annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2 %. Packaged Facts estimates
total retail sales, including both household cleaners and
laundry products, at $600 million in 2014. The green market
remains a niche, accounting for about 3 % of the total house-
hold cleaner and laundry product market [38].
2.1.6 Japan
Since the first concentrated powder detergents was launched
in 1987 in Japan, concentrated powders have consistently
played a leading role, especially for the past 10 years [35].
These seems to have been almost no change in product form
segments but surfactant-wise, a major change occurred
around 2001. The new millennium saw a new generation
of powder detergents suited to new washing machines de-
veloped to save time, water and used low mechanical force
for less damage to clothes. This movement resulted in sig-
571
 Das Geetha and Rashmi Tyagi: Consumer behavior and fascinating challenges on household laundry and dishwashing

nificant changes in the surfactant segments. The alcohol

ethoxylate (AE) based detergent powder with quick solubility
was launched to improve washing performance. An increa-
sed use of methyl ester sulfonate (MES) in washing pro-
ducts has been seen in Japan and this surfactant has also
been introduced in North America. At present ultra-compact
detergents, having dosage of 20 g/30 L and 15 g/30 L, have
gained attention and captured a dominant market share
[35, 39]. The liquid oxygen bleach with a long alkyl chain ac-
tivator for providing better bleaching performance and acti-
vator stability remained in a strong position in the cleaning
market worldwide.

2.2 Household dishwashing habits in various countries

Dishwashing is not a common topic in consumer’s mind. It

is a mundane and frequent household routine, but to
Tenside Surfactants Detergents downloaded from www.hanser-elibrary.com by Hanser - Library on November 18, 2016

achieve clean dishes [40 – 42]. Consumer needs and habits

continue to change worldwide. A large part of the world is
still using hand dishwashing formats mostly liquids [40].
Laundry and dishwashing processes in home are not accom-
plished only by washing machine or dishwasher. There are
Figure 3 Top three reasons for pre-rinsing of dishes before putting them in
two main ways to complete dishwashing: manual or by the dishwasher in USA and Germany [43]
using dishwasher. The market penetration of dishwashers
differs from country to country with penetration levels up
to 70 %, and the number of households possessing a dish-
mer panel in total, the running tap water method can be
washer is still increasing in all European countries and
named as the predominant method for washing up [43] i. e.
North America (up to 80 %) [41 – 43]. Instead, among the
among the trialists, 43 % dishwasher owners and 46 % non-
Asian countries, Latin America and Middle East countries,
dishwasher owners wash up under running tap. Various
a clearly low belief in automatic dishwasher cleaning results
For personal use only.

studies revealed that a lack of knowledge about the benefits

can be identified [43].
But it become a common practice in almost all house-
holds i. e., special items like those which are needed soon
or which are too bulky to fit well in a dishwasher are washed
up by hand [43]. The intense study conducted by Stammin-
ger er al. on dishwashing behavior highlighted the signifi-
cant differences in the way of manual dishwashing, resource
use and cost for manual as well as automatic dishwashing
[22, 24 – 26, 42, 43]. As a reference in Germany the percent-
age of household owning dishwasher has been increased i. e.
65 %. It was found that more or less 9 to 15 items have to be
washed up per day per capita in a German household and
the number of items washed per day not only depends on
the household size but also the availability of dishwasher.
The consumers using dishwashers prefer some pre-treat-
ment.
The reasons for pre-rinsing are given in Fig. 3. The study
from Zott show that the loading behavior and the style and
shapes of the items used in dishwasher differ between
household and the test standard [24, 25, 43]. Surprisingly,
the consumer behavior results in higher energy consump-
tion (i. e., 24 % higher) than the consumption under stan-
dard conditions. Due to the additional pre-rinsing, the water
consumption increases 29 % [42]. The Australian consumer
organization CHOICE prefers the auto or sensing pro-
gramme should be designed to give optimum results for
every wash due to the fact that the consumer usually has to
pay more for this feature in comparison to basic models [44].
The dishwashing habits vary dramatically between coun-
tries and regions [42, 43]. Like, consumers from Australia/
New Zealand (Au/NZ) and South Africa (ZA) wash their
dishes in a sink filled with water. Over 50 % of the consu-
mers from Russia (Ru), Latin America (LATAM), Korea
(KR), Japan (JP) and Middle East (ME) do more than 70 %
of all dishwashing steps under running tap water. Countries
like Hungary (HU), China (CN) and the United States (US)
tend to combine both methods. When looking at the consu-
of automatic dishwashing compared with manual dishwash-
ing can still be identified [24, 25, 43]. The global consumers
opinion about automatic dishwasher cleaning is given in
Fig. 4 [25].
In dishwashing formulation builders are used to control
water hardness and improve cleaning efficiency by chelating
calcium and magnesium ions from hard water [40, 41]. Due
to the regulations, sodium citrate and trisodium salt of
methyl glycine diacetic acid as well as polymeric co-builders
like polycarboxylates to provide shiny, spot-free dishes after
dishwashing instead of phosphates. Biodegradable, low
foam, emulsifying surfactants are highly preferred in dish-
washing formulations worldwide. Regarding the use of clea-
ners and additives in machine dishwashing, a majority of
people use tablets (76.2 %), 64.7 % people use especially
multifunctional tablets[40, 41]. 60.7 % of all consumers use
rinse-aid in their dishwasher and even 49.7 % of those using
multifunctional tablets also claim to use rinse-aid. But the
consumers from USA and other countries repeatedly pur-
chase liquids followed by tablets and non-detergent products
[25, 45]. Thus the dishwashing products need to be formu-
lated with high active ingredients with mildness since their
extended contact to the skin (while manual washing) to give
improved cleaning with limited amounts of water [41]. Also,
consumers need to avoid the inconvenience of checking and
rinsing dishes after washing. So the development of pro-
ducts that help to eliminate residues and remove a wide
range of food stains without the need for pre-rinsing would
be appreciated [45].
3 Consumer expectations in homecare laundry/
dishwashing
The consumers are expecting some important qualities in
laundry detergents i. e., an improvement of solubility of
powder detergents and detergency at lower temperatures

572 Tenside Surf. Det. 53 (2016) 6

 Das Geetha and Rashmi Tyagi: Consumer behavior and fascinating challenges on household laundry and dishwashing
[1, 35]. The solubility of powders is regarded as the driving
force behind the trend towards liquid detergents. In 2001
and 2002, two new technological solutions were introduced
to improve powder detergent solubility in the Japanese and
the U.S. markets [35].
The first is the development of new manufacturing pro-
cesses to make quick-dissolving particles infused with high-
er contents of alcohol ethoxylate (AE) [35, 39, 46]. By these
new manufacturing processes, the highly porous detergent
particles are produced with AE. In addition they can retain
lots of liquid surfactant without adding any oil-absorbent
materials. Thus, facilitate superior washing results with
higher solubility and by the reduction of the total formula-
tion amount of surfactants [1, 35, 39]. But, AE can work
more effectively in powders than in liquid detergents.
Second is the modification in the hydrophobic group of
Tenside Surfactants Detergents downloaded from www.hanser-elibrary.com by Hanser - Library on November 18, 2016
conventional anionic surfactants in order to decrease the
Krafft point and to increase the detergent solubility. i. e., In
2002, methyl-branched alkyl sulfates with these longer alkyl
chains were introduced in the U.S. which results in the im-
provement of hard water tolerance and solubility [35, 46].
This substitution allows for the increase of the surface active
2-phenyl body ratio, which has a relatively high Krafft point.
The laundry detergents be used very frequently includes
brighteners and fragrances. These are suspected toxins. Be-
cause detergents contact our clothing, and clothing contacts
For personal use only.
Figure 4 The opinion of consumers from various countries (Australia, New Zealand, China, Hungary, United States, Russia, Latin America, Japan, Korea and
Middle East) regarding the way of cleaning dishes (hand or dishwasher) to achieve better cleaning results and lesser water and energy consumption [43]
Tenside Surf. Det. 53 (2016) 6
our bodies, we are very open to the possibility of absorbing
these substances through the skin. Cell membrances absorb
selectively electrically charged material. However, cell mem-
branes will absorb oily, non-polar substances simply through
contact. The studies on the actual interaction of surfactant-
detergents, at the cellular levels reveals that when surfac-
tants are applied to the skin but then later washed off, not
all of the surfactant is removed. These substances do not
merely adhere to the surface of the skin but in time they pe-
netrate it and eventually penetrated deeper layers to the liv-
ing cells. Thus, the consideration about the toxicity of sur-
factants and other non-polar molecules which are part of
the laundry detergents have been increased tremendously.
Sugar-based surfactants are a class of renewable derived sur-
face active molecules and some of them viz., alkyl poly-
glucosides (APGs) outperform traditional ones such as SLS
and sodium lauryl ether sulphate on mildness [47 – 49], es-
sential oil solubility [49 – 51], cleaning ability at lower con-
centration[52 – 54], higher foam [49], lesser irritations [54,
55].
3.1 Sustainable consumers and household laundry/
dishwashing
According to industry reports, the biodegradability of surfac-
tants used in household laundry/dishwashing are adequate
573
 Das Geetha and Rashmi Tyagi: Consumer behavior and fascinating challenges on household laundry and dishwashing
when the sewage is properly treated. Even then also, some of
the anionic surfactant molecules still under use will indeed
pass through the sewage treatment process unchanged
[1, 35]. These molecules are not necessarily benign in nat-
ure, and all have been shown to exhibit toxic effects at suffi-
cient concentrations [35, 39]. Anionic surfactants, the major
cleaning agent in most laundry detergents are not generally
absorbed by inorganic solids. Cationic surfactants, on the
other hand, are strongly absorbed by solids, particularly
clays. There is also a significant degree of absorption of both
anionic and non-ionic surfactants in the activated sludge
and organic river sediments [54, 55]. It is a well known fact
that surfactants which contain branched hydrophobes are
not as easily biodegraded as the more common surfactants
which contain simple linear hydrophobes [50, 55]. Cationic
surfactants with a branched hydrophobic part are mostly
used as a fabric softener (di-hydrogenated tallow alkyldi-
Tenside Surfactants Detergents downloaded from www.hanser-elibrary.com by Hanser - Library on November 18, 2016
methyl ammonium compounds, di-fatty amido alkoxylated
ammonium compounds and fatty alkyl fatty amido imidazo-
linium compounds). A much larger proportion of these sur-
factants will be released into the environment from sewage
treatment plants. But recently they have been replaced by es-
terquats of triethanolamine with oleic acid [40]. Thus, the
consumers from across the world prefer biodegradable, non
toxic formulations in all the aspects [1, 35].
Fabric softeners and conditioners have been used for soft-
ening clothes. In order to avoid a harsh, uncomfortable feel
that is left when detergents used is neutralized by fabric
softeners. The traditional use of fabric softeners i. e. soften-
ing clothes, scenting and reducing static electricity has been
For personal use only.
changed. Now, softeners have been preferred to impart func-
tions such as easy ironing, long-lasting fragrance and neu-
tralizing clothing malodors along with biodegradability [35].
4 Environmental regulation and consumers
As part of the modernization of the legislation on deter-
gents, a lot of Commissions assess the environmental im-
pact of detergent surfactants. In parallel, AISE (Interna-
tional for example, Association for Soaps, Detergents and
Maintenance Products) and CEFIC–ECOSOL (European
Chemical Industry Council–European Centre of Studies on
LAB/LAS) have carried out a risk assessment on linear alkyl
benzene sulfonates (LAS). Recently, the OECD published an
in-depth review of the eco-toxicological hazards of linear al-
kyl benzene sulfonates [1].
A modern detergent powder is a complicated multicom-
ponent mixture of surfactants (20 – 25 %), builders (sodium
phosphates, sodium carbonate, sodium silicate, zeolite),
bleach (perborate, TAED, percarbonate), enzymes and auxili-
aries (optical brightners, fragrance, sodium sulphate) [1].
Since a massive stream of detergent surfactants is directed
to the aquatic environment, a very strict control of the biode-
gradability of the detergent powder is on practice [35]. De-
spite such a strict regulation, some products having a poor
biodegradability are available on the market [32].
As a result, the manufacturers are currently in the stage
of shifting their attention towards green and eco-friendly
based laundry products. Price escalation and adverse envi-
ronmental effect caused by the chemicals renowned clean-
ing products like phosphate incorporated detergent products
pressurize both the manufacturers as well as consumers to
transform their choices over green products. Many countries
have imposed new environmental policies to phase out the
adverse detergent products.
The preferences of the consumers towards green and eco-
friendly products have been increasing [1 – 8]. Most of the
574
consumers have concerns towards environment [1, 42, 43].
Based on the survey conducted by Accenture in 2010, the
percentage of the consumers who would to pay extra for
green products is 98 % in China and in India, it is 84 %.
The recent AOCS survey from 2012 supports this issue as
well. All these surveys reveal the consumers’ willingness to
purchase green products even in higher prices.
5 Conclusion
Growing awareness about hygiene and healthy living has led
to a high demand for laundry care products. The move to-
wards more sustainable products both in laundry as well as
dishwashing becomes a global trend. There is an increased
demand for liquid detergents, fabric conditioners and fabric
softeners across the world.
Many of the surveys related to the consumer behavior
strongly indicated the commitment of consumers towards a
greener lifestyle and their preferences to use new eco-
friendly, multifunctional products. In order to reciprocate
to the consumers trends and need, some of the products al-
ready have been introduced into the market with eco claims
such as fragrance free, clear of dyes and brighteners, with-
out artificial fragrance, colors or preservatives, biodegrad-
able, ozone safe, free of phosphate, chlorine, ammonia,
petroleum solvents, alcohol, butyl, glycol ether, sodium laur-
yl sulfate (SLS). Due to the lifestyle changes and the increas-
ing desire for technology and comfort, consumers will be
more dependent on appliances.
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Tenside Surf. Det.
53 (2016) 6; page 568 – 575
ª Carl Hanser Verlag GmbH & Co. KG
ISSN 0932-3414
y Correspondence address
Mrs Das Geetha
Dr. Rashmi Tyagi
Jaypee University of Engineering &Technology
AB road, Raghogarh
Guna
India
E-Mail: geethad2005@yahoo.com
rashmi_tyagi1970@yahoo.co.in
The authors of this paper
Dr. Rashmi Tyagi completed her Ph. D.in Chemistry in 1990 and obtained her-
second Master and second Ph. D.in Chemical T echnology in 2003 and 2005 re-
spectively form HBTI Kanpur. She isworking as Assistant Professor, in Department
ofChemical Engineering,Jaypee University of Engineering & Technology, Guna Mad-
hya Pradesh, India since 2006.
D. Geetha completed her graduation and post graduation from Bharathidasan Uni-
versity, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu. She has completed her M.Phil. from Annamalai
University,Chidambaram,T amil Nadu. At presentshe is perusing her Doctoral pro-
gramme from Department of Chemical Engineering, Jaypee University of Engineer-
ing & Technology, Guna, M. P. India.
575