Mintel Announces Global Household Care Trends for 2021

Mintel, the experts in what consumers want and why, has today (12 January 2021) announced two key trends for the global household care industry, including analysis, insights, and recommendations centred around consumer behaviour over the next year:

• Safe Home, Serene Home: Household brands have a role to play in preserving mental and physical wellbeing with products, routines, and philanthropy.
• Humanity Begins At Home: Brands have an opportunity to strengthen consumers’ trust in their expertise, to educate, and to close societal divides, increasing engagement and loyalty.

Looking ahead, Richard Hopping, Senior Global Household Care Analyst, discusses how shifts in consumer behaviour related to wellbeing and rights will inspire formulation, packaging, marketing, and more in the years to come:

Safe Home, Serene Home

“One of the great lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic is the importance of mental wellness. Consumers’ retreat to the home has kept them safe, but it has also challenged wellness due to limited community interaction, all while being tasked with transforming their homes into offices, schools, and gyms. Mintel’s 2021 Global Household Care Trend, ‘Safe Home, Serene Home’, shows how brands can go beyond killing germs and viruses and drive wellbeing in the home, community, and planet.

In 2021, expect to see companies and brands help consumers decide what to buy and where to shop more than ever before, and embrace opportunities to link task-specific cleaning to activities supporting physical and emotional health.

Looking ahead, as cleaning becomes a component of the wellness lifestyle, data-driven tools that track chores, monitor germs, and even caloric expenditure during homecare will help create a routine around this work and solidify its status as a wellness activity. Health and wellbeing will pervade more aspects of consumers’ lives offering homecare brands the opportunity to use their growing importance to more clearly position themselves as mental, community, and planetary health allies.”

Humanity Begins At Home

“The increased influence of homecare on consumer lives will raise expectations about what brands can do. Mintel’s 2021 Global Household Care Trend, ‘Humanity Begins At Home’, argues that COVID-19 will create the opportunity for homecare brands to leverage their position of trust to drive social change and become noted leaders in making the world a better place to live.

In 2021, the role of homecare brands has shifted to one of crucial consumer ally as a result of the pandemic. The key to brands continuing that success lies in recognising that there is now added responsibility, especially when it comes to educating consumers about how to get the best out of the products they use.

Looking forward, as homecare brands become more ingrained in everyday life and comfortable with the role of educator, consumers will expect them to become more influential leaders in driving social change. When it comes to sustainability, in particular, expect brands to close the gap between environmental sentiment and action by promoting behavioural changes that are accessible to all.”

Interviews with the Mintel Household Care global analyst team are available on request from the Mintel Press Office. Mintel’s 2021 Global Household Trends are available for free download here.

Learn more about our 2021 Global Consumer Trends here and our Global Food and Drink Trends here; for interview inquires, please contact the Press Office.