EXTERNAL ANALYSISCustomer AnalysisWhen it comes to laundry detergents, Canadians primarily think of one name, Tide. Procter and Gamble's Tide detergent has captured over one-third of the market and is twenty percentage points ahead of its closest competitor in market share. When people were asked about the benefits of washing in cold water, the results were astounding. The eight most common answers could be easily divided into two categories - those who were money saving in nature (saves energy, cheaper, saves hot water, saves electricity) and those who related to the quality of the job performed (stops shrinkage, prevents color running, colors stay brighter, easier on clothes). The chart indicates that Quebec, the Maritimes, and British Columbia are more interested in the cost saving aspects of cold water washing. Conversely, Ontario, Alberta and the Manitoba/Saskatchewan believe cold water washing's positive treatment of clothes is its greatest benefit. The nation is actually divided on its perception of the benefits of cold water washing. Arctic Power considers itself a premium product, using the same amounts of cleaning ingredients as Tide. However, Canadian consumers do not regard Arctic Power as a premium product. Clearly this is a substantial weakness for a product that is priced similarly to Tide and costs as much to produce as Tide. Alarmingly, Arctic Power is regarded roughly the same as Sunlight, and clearly inferior to Tide in cold water cleaning by Canadian consumers!Thirty-nine percent of the Canadian market is held in Ontario and also Ontario has the highest return on media expenditure of any region. Ontario is changing the way it washes clothes. The proportion of households in Ontario t...
