Innovation

"The most important characteristic of this product is that this detergent is the first hyper-concentrated detergent in China which contains 47% of surfactant (active ingredient that removes stains) whereas other liquid detergents contain much less surfactant (on average 25%). Furthermore, the press pump of the Zhizun liquid laundry is specially designed to control the dose of every press in approximately 8g (0.26 oz), which is sufficient to wash 8 T-shirts. So, consumers are not likely to pour excessive liquid laundry, which is a waste of detergent,” said Jian Li, regional CEO of the company.

Hyper-concentrated detergent has been popular in China for several years. Based on the standard issued by the Cleaning Products Industry Association in China, hyper-concentrated detergent has to contain at least 45% of surfactants. Until now, none of the detergents on the market are hyper-concentrated detergents. Furthermore, the weight of a bottle of Zhizun detergent is only 0.66 kg (1.46 lb), which is enough to wash 660 T-shirts or blouses whereas a bottle of non-concentrated detergent that can clean an equal quantity of T-shirts or blouses weighs 2.2kg (4.9 lb). Although this product costs the company much more to develop and produce, it costs much less to transport and requires thinner and fewer boxes for its package. Besides, to be most effective, this detergent does not need warm or hot water. Also, it does not contain any ingredient which is harmful to the environment. To sum up, this product is now considered to be the most sustainable solution to washing clothes for consumers in China.

Consumers get used to pouring detergent into washing machines directly and usually pouring much more than necessary. Because of the design of the press pump, they pump rather than pour detergent into washing machines, which is more precise and can avoid wasting detergent. When they form the habit of pumping rather than pouring detergent, they can save water, electricity, and money.

This product is sold in over 11,000 supermarkets and over 120,000 retailers which are located in more than 300 cities all over China. Of course, the selling price of the Zhizun detergent is almost twice as much as that of a non-concentrated detergent.

The chief executive officer and scientists of the company were mainly involved in the development of the innovation.

Inspiration

Qiuping Luo, who is the CEO of the enterprise and goes to the United States every year to discover the trend of the detergent industry, found that it was time to develop a hyper-concentrated detergent in China. He correctly predicted the widespread popularity of concentrated detergent three years ago. Furthermore, this innovation is related to the vision of the company: let consumers enjoy cleaning by technology innovation. He believes that the convenience of the press pump will enable users to enjoy washing clothes.

In the short-term, this product improves sales of the company and exerts a positive effect on the environment. The long-term effects remain to be seen. “Sales of the product increase substantially and account for a large part of total sales. As time goes by, more and more consumers will accept liquid detergent and use our product,” said regional CEO Jian Li.

Overall impact

One of the most important impacts is that this product spreads the concept that liquid detergent, especially hyper-concentrated liquid detergent can save consumers money while at the same time protecting the environment. This product is more effective than other liquid and powder detergents. Thus, an increasing number of consumers are more willing to try liquid detergent and get used to using it rather than powder detergent to wash their clothes. Furthermore, compared with powder detergent, this product can protect the fabric from fading. So, customers will wear their clothes longer and not dispose of them frequently.

Sales of this product have been increasing considerably over the past few years and continue to do so. However, sales of non-concentrated detergents have decreased. This is the company's plan, that is to help Chinese consumers upgrade non-concentrated detergent to hyper-concentrated detergent within 3 years. Having noticed this trend, other liquid detergent companies have started to develop and produce concentrated detergent.

Business benefit

“None of the liquid detergents in China were hyper-concentration detergent before 2014. Our company has always been the pioneer in the industry. It is our mission to push the industry to develop and upgrade. Besides, the CEO considered that if the company issued the first hyper-concentration product in China, it would be very helpful to improve reputation and the public relationship of the enterprise. This product would help the company differentiate itself from its competitors. Furthermore, based on the trend that environmentally friendly products are becoming more and more popular in China, this product would be a very promising product in the future,” said the regional CEO. After this product was available, the company considered it to be the most potential and profitable product in the market and allocated most of its resources to promote this product.

Social and environmental benefit

Based on the description of Goal 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) "Economic growth and development require the production of goods and services that improve the quality of life. Sustainable growth and development require minimizing the natural resources and toxic materials used, and the waste and pollutants generated, throughout the entire production and consumption process." Zhizun liquid detergent reduces the natural resources and the waste and pollutants consumers produced by technology innovation and by educating consumers to pump rather than to pour detergents.

Its impact on the environment is evident.

First, China has a population of 1.4 billion. Over 71% percent of Chinese consumers still use powder detergent to wash clothes whereas less than 10% of Americans now use powder detergent. The disadvantage of powder detergent is that it is hard to control each dose of usage and consumers tend to put more powder detergent than necessary. Furthermore, powder detergent requires more water and electricity to rinse than liquid detergent requires. But even worse, if users put too much powder detergent into the washing machine, on average, twice as much water and electricity are required to get rid of the foam of powder detergent. So, if they choose liquid detergent whenever washing clothes, a family can save 4.6 gals of water every time. Supposing that a family washes clothes once a day and 90% of Chinese family use liquid detergent to wash clothes, Chinese consumers can save 5,070 billion lb of water, 385,191 lb of CO2, 8.6 billion kWh electricity annually.*

Second, the pump of this product can be pressed over 40,000 times. So, if a consumer buys one bottle of this product, he or she just needs to buy bagged detergent to refill into the bottle rather than purchasing a new bottle of detergent in the following three to five years. The new detergent can save money for customers and protect the environment at the same time.

* The data is based on the washing machine: Hair XQG60-10866A. Each rinse consumes 2.37gal water averagely.

Interview

Jian Li, Regional CEO