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Customers are ready! Proctor & Gamble is confident that consumers will embrace a new innovation in laundry detergent—even though previous attempts have been less than successful, especially in the United States. The latest offering is Tide Pods, small dissolvable packets of detergent for single-use machine loads, which cost 25 percent more per load than liquid detergent.
Proctor & Gamble introduced Tide Basic during the recession, to compete with increasingly attractive, less expensive private-label alternatives. But it was not particularly successful in that venture and thus has changed its tactics. Rather than go bare bones, Tide is emphasizing its better quality and hoping to encourage consumers to switch to more expensive products that offer great convenience.
The $7.2 billion laundry detergent industry calculates that the average household washes approximately 400 loads per year. The cost of each load, using the recommended amount of Tide’s liquid detergent, is 22 cents. But most people use too much detergent, which means it actually costs them more. Tide Pods will cost 25–32 cents per load. Although consumers already may be spending this much on Tide, due to their overuse of the liquid product, the challenge will be convincing them of this equivalence. Previous attempts at premeasured detergent have failed too, as market research indicated that U.S. consumers prefer to measure their own amounts of detergent for each load—even if it is too much.
The laundry detergent category has not experienced a true innovation in three decades, according to Robert McDonald, CEO at Proctor & Gamble. However, the company believes its track record of success with high-end versions of consumer packaged goods—Crest 3-D Whitestrips, Downy Unstoppables in-wash scent boosters, and Gillette Fusion ProGlide style razors—give it insights into what people might really want in their laundry rooms.
Discussion Questions:
- What are Tide Pods?
2. Do consumers want a single-use laundry detergent?
Source: Emily Glazer, “Tide Rides Convenience Wave,” The Wall Street Journal, February 23, 2012.
Grewal Levy Marketing News 
It seems as though Tide is ignoring all the evidence they gathered regarding the potential for this product. Just because Proctor and Gamble were successful with other products doesn’t mean that they will be able to overcome what the research dictates in this instance.
Tide pods are small packets of pre-measured detergent which Procter and Gamble would be introducing into the market at a slightly higher price than the recommended detergent amount costs for a single load. While the company aims to provide convenience consumers are not welcoming to the idea of pre-measured detergent, they like to be able to control how much they put for each load even if it actually turns out to be more expensive in the long run. While Procter and Gamble has attempted to innovate the laundry industry, the research does not seem to point to a positive direction for the brand. Clearly the consumer likes to be in control when it comes to using laundry detergent.
Tide pods are dissolvable packages of detergent used for single laundry loads. It was introduced by Procter and Gamble, and costs 25% more per load than liquid detergent. Consumers are not thrilled over this alternative, as they prefer to be in control of how much detergent they use per wash. From personal experience, the tide pods are not that effective, and slightly annoying. P&G needs to research more on consumer responses to their introduced products, and think of ideas based off their mistakes that will be successful in the market.
Tide Pods are small packages of laundry detergent with a dissolvable case that can be thrown in and used for one load of laundry. I think consumers will not want a single-use laundry detergent because doing laundry is a habit that is hard to overcome. People have been using liquid and powder detergent for many years and this concept is different than this tradition. People also have a sense of control when they poor the liquid detergent into the machine, changing the volume for larger loads and smaller loads. With these new pods, they won’t be able to adjust how much detergent they are putting in and may not trust that it works.