Consumers across the developing world use laundry bars to remove tough stains. Many a hand has repeatedly had to press the laundry bar harder onto blood and sebum stains on cuffs and collars.
Laundry bars are popular in countries like China because they offer the best way to directly target and remove tough stains on collars, cuffs, and delicate items. According to a consumer survey conducted by the Chinese detergent manufacturer Liby in 2009–2010, nearly 30% of Chinese use laundry bars to either pretreat or posttreat stains that do not come out in the wash cycle.
“We asked consumers why they prefer laundry bars, and they said that when the stains are tough, they choose laundry bars to help clean them,” says Zhang Liping, Chief Scientist and Senior Manager at Liby. “With Easyzyme, difficult protein-based stains like sebum, blood, egg, milk, and others come out with ease. The end result is a happier consumer who spends less time washing clothes.”
A laundry bar breakthrough
For an industry that has not seen any new technological advances in decades, the laundry bar market has just received an adrenalin shot with the launch of Easyzyme..
According to Euromonitor, nearly 400 million kilograms of laundry soap bar are sold every year in China. In value the laundry soap bar market makes up about 10% of the total detergent market in China, and worldwide the laundry soap bar market is about 5% of overall laundry detergent sales with a retail value of USD 2–3 billion.
Liby laundry bars are the second-best seller in China, and to acquire more market share in this category Liby has been looking for ways to improve the detergency of its products, especially with regard to stain removal.To close the gap and get closer to the market leader in China, Liby has been considering enzymes in laundry bars for a few years now. But the lack of stability of enzymes in laundry bars has been the main challenge.
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| ”With Novozymes Easyzyme® the end result is a happier consumer who spends less time washing clothes,” says Zhang Liping, Chief Scientist and Senior Manager at Liby. From left:Sun Yiheng (R&D Fabric Care Engineer), Zhang Liping, and Hu Huilin (R&D Fabric Care Engineer). |
As the first enzyme solution to be stabilized in laundry bars, Easyzyme offers a variety of benefits such as more effective cleaning and less use of water. Together, this means that rewashing can be prevented, making hand-washing with an enzymatic laundry bar gentler on the hands.
“Novozymes has developed a patented breakthrough solution for stabilizing enzymes in laundry soap bars,” says Christian Wieth, Senior Global Marketing Manager for Novozymes Household Care. “The solution is Easyzyme, a specially blended stabilized protease, plus the support of Customer Solutions and Marketing to develop the product with a detergent manufacturer.
Novozymes has established a laundry bar pilot plant in Customer Solutions in North America to support customers with soap bar trials, enzyme stability, and soap characteristics evaluation.
Consumers love enzymes
In a consumer survey conducted by Liby after it launched the enzymatic bar, Chinese consumers clearly indicated their preference for an enzymatic laundry bar. During the test marketing phase of this product, this preference has translated to a gain of 5% in market share for Liby, according to Nielsen, a global leader in measurement and information on what consumers watch and buy.
“We launched an enzymatic laundry bar in three cities, and now, after four months of use, the consumer reaction is very positive. They can see that the enzymatic laundry bar offers a higher degree of detergency compared to the conventional bar,” says Zhang Liping.
The consumers who were surveyed see high efficiency in stain removal using the laundry bar with Easyzyme as it is easy for them to remove stains and soil on collars, cuffs, underwear, and socks, which are the most difficult items to clean. The survey also shows that consumers find the enzymatic laundry bar to be gentler on their skin and that their skin feels better after handwashing.
An easier future
Enzymes in laundry bars are set to change the way people around the world hand-wash clothes. Novozymes has launched Easyzyme globally. The first enzymatic laundry bars are already on the market in China, and more are expected to be introduced in other markets.
“With enzymatic laundry bars we can save time, effort, and water for millions of people all over the world. With half the time and half the effort, hand-washing clothes has never been this easy,” says Christian Wieth. “Easyzyme is a perfect example of where we deliver innovation to a lower-value, but interesting market segment that traditionally has been nonenzymatic.”