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Published on January 25, 2008

"Downy will help drive company sales as a whole now that we've set a strong foundation for our beauty category. Adding high-potential products is necessary to gain steady growth over the long run," Medhee Jarumaneeroj, marketing and corporate-communications manager, said yesterday.

The category had only one product before: Fab powdered laundry detergent.

Downy has been available in P&G's homeland in the US since 1960 and is now in many countries. It brings the number of P&G products in Thailand to 20.

Medhee said the new brand would help the company strengthen its presence in the fabric-care market and its positioning as an innovator of personal-care and home-use products.

P&G's personal-care category contributes 75 per cent of its total sales, while the rest falls from other categories, such as oral care and fabric care.

Fabric care remains a minor business, and the company does not see the category increasing its sales proportion in a short time, although the category is expected to be a key driver for the whole company, she said.

Initially, Downy will come in three scents - Sunrise Fresh, Relaxing Rose and Vanilla - as well as an anti-bacteria version.

Concentrated formula accounts for only 10 per cent of the Bt4.7-billion fabric-softener market, which is dominated by standard formula. The main reason for this is consumers do not pay attention to how to measure fabric softener correctly, and that could easily damage clothes if they use the concentrated formula, Medhee said.

As a result, Downy has only one competitor in the segment: Comfort.

The company plans to educate consumers about the correct amounts of the fabric softener, advertise on television and the Skytrain and have points of sale tell consumers about the new

product. Medhee declined

to reveal the marketing budget.

Concentrated fabric softener is usually priced 10-15-per-cent higher than standard formula. Downy sells for Bt52 per bottle, which is higher than the competitor's Bt49.

Medhee said 90 per cent of consumers in Bangkok and 70 per cent upcountry already used fabric softener. Those figures are expected to be 100 per cent and 80 per cent, respectively, by 2010.

As concentrated fabric softener is gaining in popularity worldwide, due to increasing concern about global warming and water pollution, the segment will likely expand to 20 per cent of the entire domestic market.

The economic downturn has not bothered P&G, because it sells daily necessities, he said.

Nitida Asawanipont

The Nation