Laundry Detergent Makers Want More Suds

When Stephen Asbel shopped for a new washing machine five years ago, water was a big consideration. A lawyer in Media, Pa., he’d heard that high-efficiency washers use significantly less water than traditional machines. “That was the main reason I wanted one,” he says. After buying a General Electric, he discovered an added bonus: It also uses a lot less detergent.

For Procter & Gamble, manufacturer of Tide and Gain, and other detergent makers, the new machines have contributed to five years of declining detergent sales. Detergents account for 13 percent of P&G’s U.S. sales, down 2 percent year to date, says Javier Escalante, an analyst at Consumer Edge Research. Extra soap isn’t a problem for traditional washing machines; they use enough water to eliminate soapy residue. But in high-efficiency washers, in which laundry rotates in a drum and is sprayed with water and not continually submerged, more detergent means sudsier clothes. Efficient machines use as little as one-third of the water of older models.