Coconut oil isn’t just used for cooking anymore, Tesco has launched a luxury toilet paper enriched with extracts of coconut oil, following popular trends found in food and beauty markets.
TRANSITIONING INGREDIENTS FROM FOOD AND BEAUTY TO HOUSEHOLD CARE
While coconut oil has been used in the US in Kleenex facial tissue products, Tesco’s launch of Luxury Soft Coconut Oil toilet tissue is the first to enter into the coconut oil trend within the household paper category in the UK.
Mintel research shows that when buying toilet paper, 57% of buyers consider softness to be a key factor when purchasing, with the inclusion of coconut oil potentially boosting associations with this aspect. Furthermore, the moisturising properties of coconut oil also seem well placed to entice users in that market.
The success of household paper products with coconut oil incorporated is likely to be built on its presence in other categories, in particular food and BPC. The number of new product launches containing coconut oil within the food and beauty sectors has increased markedly since 2011, across a range of different food sub-categories, with products containing the ingredient positioned as natural, organic, or luxury. Highlighting that the ingredient has become particularly trendy within fast moving consumer goods markets.
The launch by Tesco is afforded a luxury image within the household paper product category, likely to be driven in part by the associations of coconut oil in food markets. In beauty and personal care however, coconut oil has become something of a mass market product, suggesting that there is the potential for household care brands to take commonplace beauty ingredients and create a premium image for them within household categories.
ROOM TO GROW IN OTHER HOUSEHOLD CATEGORIES
As coconut oil gains more widespread awareness through its usage in food and beauty products, it is likely that more household care brands will feel comfortable highlighting coconut oil inclusion in order to create a more natural proposition as well as to highlight its cleaning ability.
Household care brands can also look towards other culinary and beauty trends in order to give their products a sense of modernity and functionality. The rising use of ingredients with a more exotic reputation in food, drink and BPC products, such as rosewater, turmeric or matcha, could resonate with household care product buyers across different categories and could encourage users to trade up. Other ingredients that consumers are more familiar with through use in food and beauty products also may also have the potential for rapid growth in household sectors, particularly those that are noted for being healthy, moisturising and hydrating, such as avocado.
-by Richard Hopping
Richard specialises in researching and providing insight around UK brands across a number of different categories, and in January 2016 also became Mintel’s Household Care Analyst. Richard joined Mintel in May 2011 after graduating with a BSc (Hons) degree in Management from Royal Holloway, University of London.
