Future Outlook

Factors such as demographics, environment, globalization, and economy continue to shape the soaps and detergent industry. The effect of demographic factors can be seen in different sectors of industry. As the population of a nation grows old, the demand for cosmetic products with softer colors, milder formulations, and the treatments for aging skin increases. New cosmetic products are being produced to satisfy demand for these products. As the consumers become better educated and informed, there is a fast growing market for scientifically based soap and detergent products, which at the same time medicate and beautify. For example, the market for sunscreen products, using science to formulate new products, now has annual sales exceeding $500 million.

Environmental Regulations
Environmental regulations for personal care and laundry cleaning products require more and more money for testing and production. More consumers are asking for environment friendly products. There is growing demand for raw materials, which contain no animal by products and for products, which are not tested on animals. Many soaps and detergent manufacturers are now rethinking their whole production lines to respond to the concerns of consumers. Efforts are there to establish industry guidelines for environmental claims and labeling are under way, and advertising and labeling are already changing to meet the new requirements.

The soap and detergent industry is becoming more global and integration through mergers and divestitures has paced the move toward globalization. Corporate investment strategy, advertising, and R&D are changing from a stress on local markets to international markets.

The slow economy has influenced the industry in various ways. During a recession consumer's look to buy products that offer multifunctional benefits, like shampoos, which can clean, condition, and add shine at the same time. The luxury and designer segment of industry was most affected by the sluggish economy. Prestige products are generally sold in department stores and many of them have seen their market share declining.

Mergers & Acquisitions / Globalization
Due to the saturation of traditional markets and in order to tackle the slow growth in domestic markets, organizations now days, are creating sophisticated infrastructures and rationalizing their production so as to make the production process centralized in fewer but larger plants. This has contributed to standardization of the soap and detergent ingredients across the globe. Manufacturers are striving to adopt basic formulations for all consumers all across the world, which can be varied by the addition of some ingredients to satisfy the trends in local markets.

Another major consequence of M&A trend is the rationalization of brands in order to realize cost cuts in marketing and branding. Another trend, which is a result of M&A's is the standardization of production process.