Hand Soap Market

Panic Buying Amidst COVID-19 to Boost Hand Soap Market Growth

Global Hand Soap market is forecast to witness rapid growth of around 6.7% over the forecast period of 2020-2030. Of all applications, the household segment accounts for more than 70% of the market share.

Escalating demand for hand soap was observed in the first quarter of 2020 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the 2nd quarter, the demand is projected to follow an upward trend with increasing awareness about hand hygiene across regions.

Demand will slowly decline by the end of the third quarter as spread of the disease is anticipated to abate. In 3rd & 4th quarter of 2019, sales of hand soap grew at a nominal rate. Medical & clinical applications have created enormous opportunities for hand soap makers.

Demand for Hand Soap Accelerates on Back of Hand Hygiene Directives

Hand soaps have seen an uptick in demand in 2020 owing to the release of hand hygiene directives amid COVID-19 pandemic. This has resulted in bulk buying of hand hygiene products such as hand soap. Moreover, lockdowns across regions has disrupted supply chains.

An increase in hand soap demand has shrunk the buffer present across the regions. This is creating a huge supply-demand gap providing an opportunity for the tier-1 stakeholders to expand production of hand soap across regions.

Europe and North America to Remain Atop, Other Regions to Grow at a Moderate Pace

From the regional perspective, Europe accounts for more than 35% of the global hand soap market share. Italy has highest household spending on hand soap .North America accounts for more than 30% of the global market share of hand soap in which United States accounts for more than 50% of the revenue share.

The region is set to be fastest growing with a growth of 6.4% over the forecast period. This scenario will soon emerge in East Asian countries such as China and Japan in the forecast period owing to the change in consumer preferences for hygiene products .Increase in demand of hand soap in Oceania was observed in the beginning of 2020 and is set to remain steady over the year.

Hand Soap Manufacturers to Gain Opportunity Owing to the Shattered Supply Chain across the Regions

Global hand soap market is consolidated in nature as there are only select players in the market claiming majority of the market share. Few manufacturers such as Shiseido have entered the competition.

However they have failed against popular consumer choices such as Reckitt Benckiser’s “Dettol“and Unilever’s “Lifebuoy”. Tier -1 players such as Reckitt Benckiser, Unilever, Johnson & Johnson and Henkel are set to capture 30 – 35% of the market share for hand soap.

Colgate Palmolive’s subsidiary “softsoap” has improved sales over the period of 2015-2019 owing to the growing demand and the launching of flavoured hand soaps with disinfectant properties. At the peak of COVID-19, manufacturers were facing a huge supply-demand gap owing to the eruption of infections. This has shrunk regional contingencies.

Manufacturers were unable to raise the cost of hand soap in March, owing to the price control intervention by governments across key regions. This has constrained manufacturers from expanding production to keep up with the increasing demand.

COVID-19 Impact Insights

The outbreak of coronavirus has led to unprecedented demand for hand soap and sanitizers globally as private health and government bodies are advocating hand hygiene measures. COVID-19 has also spurred people to panic buy and hoard on hand soaps which has accelerated the demand for hand soaps. Thus many FMCG companies are at their wits’ end trying to ramp up production in order to keep up with demand.

There are some who have innovated extensively in their marketing campaigns. For instance, Wai Wai Noodles has propagated hand washing in its new packs to support the cause of hand hygiene.

This is further anticipated to give an uptick to the sales of hand soap in the foreseeable future. Amid supply chain and capacity challenges popular hand soap companies such as RB are ramping up production to widely distribute their popular soaps such as Dettol Hand Wash and Dettol Soap.

Hand Soap market Segmentation

Fact.MR has studied the hand soap market with detailed segmentation on the basis of pack size, application, sales channel, and key regions.

• By Pack Size :

  • 100 ml to 200 ml
  • 200 ml to 500 ml
  • 500 ml to 1L
  • 1L to 5L

• By Application :

  • Industrial
  • Medical & Clinical
  • Household
  • Others

• By Sales Channel :

  • Retail Stores
  • Hyper Markets
  • Big-box retailers
  • Pharmacies
  • Mom & pop stores
  • E-Commerce

• By Region :

  • North America
  • Latin America
  • Europe
  • East Asia
  • South Asia & Oceania
  • Middle East & Africa

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