PG Procter and Gamble Co

Maker of Tide, struggling with scant growth, revises its 'perfect dose.' It now advises using two or three detergent pods per load.

By Paul Ziobro and Sharon Terlep 

When Procter & Gamble Co. launched Tide Pods, the company touted the dissolvable laundry detergent packets as "the ultimate perfect dose."

Four years later, the consumer-products giant has a different message: Some loads might require two -- even three -- of the now-popular packets. While competitors advise tossing in two packets for the largest loads, P&G is alone in recommending triple dosing.

"We find that people need more clarity in judging their load size. They think it's a large load, but it's actually an extra-large load," P&G spokeswoman Tracey Long said.

P&G's changing recommendations for a clean load of laundry come at a time when the company is struggling with scant growth and few new hit products. Its last hit was Tide Pods in 2012. Now every major maker of detergent has their own version of the concentrated laundry packets.

"It's clearly a way to boost sales," said John Replogle, chief executive of cleaning-products rival Seventh Generation Inc., referring to P&G's new recommendations. Seventh Generation plans to launch its own laundry packets this summer. It will recommend one for standard or high-efficiency machines and two for "larger or heavily soiled loads."

P&G's Ms. Long says the company decided to increase the recommended dose based on customer feedback and its research that showed people are cramming more laundry into their machines. The capacity of the biggest washing machines is 30% larger than when Tide Pods were launched, according to General Electric Co.'s appliance division.

Other brands, such as Sun Products Corp.'s All Mighty Pacs and Church & Dwight Co.'s Arm & Hammer Power Paks, advise in their instructions using one capsule for regular loads, and using two for large or especially dirty loads.

"For our detergent, two is enough for large loads," a Sun spokeswoman said.

Single unit-dose detergents now make up nearly 15% of the $7 billion-a-year U.S. laundry-detergent market, according to market researcher Nielsen NV. Despite these single-packets' higher cost per wash, their introduction didn't boost the overall market as it reduced consumers' tendency to overuse liquids and powders.

U.S. laundry-industry sales have fallen in two of the past three years and eked out 1.6% revenue growth in 2015, according to Nielsen. Compared with the pre-pod era, overall industry sales are down nearly 5%.

In recent months, P&G has changed its packaging and advertising for its Tide Pods. It now recommends three packets for extra-large laundry loads, two for a large load and one for a small or medium load. A Tide TV commercial now shows a consumer preparing a wash with two packets in hand.

Katie Marrero, 48 years old of Brooklyn, switched to Tide Pods a month ago after tiring of lugging liquid detergent bottles to the laundromat. She generally uses one packet, and will toss in two for big loads.

"I didn't read the instructions, I just thought that would work," said Ms. Marrero, who cares for newborn babies. "One or two is enough. There are plenty of suds and my clothes get clean."

Appliance manufacturers say there is no evidence to suggest three packets are needed to get clothes clean or that using too few packs is a source of problems for consumers. Rather, they say, high-efficiency washers that use less water require detergent with a different chemical composition, and have resulted in less-than-ideal results for some.

"Clean is such a subjective metric," said Jennifer Schoenegge, a product manager for GE's appliance unit. "We get complaints about high-efficiency machines not cleaning in the way customers expect."

Consumer-products companies have a history of encouraging wider use of their products. In the 1960s, Alka-Seltzer sales jumped after the manufacturer changed its recommendation to two tablets and began using the slogan, "plop, plop, fizz, fizz." More recently, shampoo makers began advising lather, rinse, repeat.

When Tide Pods were first released in 2012, Consumer Reports determined one packet worked as well as a dose of liquid detergent. The group doesn't recommend the product for safety reasons, a spokesperson said.

The packets are pricier than liquid detergents even without doubling or tripling up. Tide Pods cost 25 cents a load, compared with 19 cents a load for liquid Tide, according to prices listed recently by Target Corp. A three-Podload uses 75 cents of detergent.

Jonna Rubin, a mother of three from Framingham, Mass., switched to Tide Pods from the brand's powdered detergent shortly after the packets came out. But even using two Pods wasn't enough to get paint, food and other stains out of her children's clothes, she says.

"I was blowing through them at such a rapid pace," Ms. Rubin said.

She has now reverted back to primarily using powdered Tide detergent. "I still have this last batch of remaining Pods that I throw in when I'm desperate," she said.

Write to Paul Ziobro at Paul.Ziobro@wsj.com and Sharon Terlep at sharon.terlep@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 09, 2016 02:48 ET (06:48 GMT)

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