Abstract

Due to the current environmental pressures and ever-rising prices of petrochemical feedstock, the detergentindustry is gradually moving towards the development of green and eco-friendly products. However, besides theproduction cost, the challenge for today’s detergent formulators still lies in increasing the quantity of green andeco-friendly surfactants in laundry detergent formulations without compromising their performance. Realizingthis, research was undertaken to develop the Asian market preferred low-density laundry detergent powders byincorporating green palm oil based surfactant (known as MES) and also by eliminating the use ofenvironmentally damaging phosphate-builders in the detergent formulation. Prior to commercialization of thisnewly developed eco-friendly low-density laundry detergent powder, a pilot survey was attempted over 112respondents using mall-intercept approach in one of the popular shopping complex in Kuala Lumpur city withthe aim to study consumers' preferences (format, brand, origin) and their purchasing behaviour(awareness/knowledge and perception) towards both commercial and MES based laundry detergent powders.The pilot survey results have indicated that the majority of respondents has high affinity towards green andenvironmental benefits offered by MES based laundry detergent powders. These positive results imply hugemarket potential for MES based laundry detergent powders and through effective marketing strategies andproduct awareness activities, this product is likely to attain success in the marketplace.

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