Laundry Industry Says Telecommuting Partly to Blame for Slower Sales
Who would have thought the telecommuting trend would have such repercussions:
IT’S A TOUGH TIME TO be a laundry detergent. Environmentalists are encouraging people to wear clothes longer before tossing them in the hamper and offering easy recipes for homemade detergents. The government wants consumers to lower their energy bills by using their washing machines less often. And now, a brand new report from Packaged Facts says that the growing trend of telecommuting, with so many people toiling in their unwashed jammies, may be about to throw yet another wrench into the spin cycle.
Still, even with that kind of pressure, Packaged Facts is predicting that sales of laundry-care products will register small gains in the years ahead, and reach $9.7 billion by 2011.
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And just as casual Friday cut into laundry in the early 1990s, telecommuting–which PF says is now a reality at 44% of all companies, and includes 24 million Americans–further reduces the need for fresh duds every day. “If the telecommuting trend continues to flourish, people will be washing fewer items, and the laundry care industry could be in for a surprise,” the report notes. “Laundry care marketers may want to think about stressing the benefits of personal care as more people enter a day-to-day situation where the pressures to make oneself presentable have been eliminated and all that remains is a heap of old T-shirts with a laptop on top.”
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