A New P&G Product gets tested in the South

[jt1985]

CINCINNATI (AP) — The Procter & Gamble Co. said Wednesday it has begun trying out a lower-cost version of Tide laundry detergent in a bid to churn up new sales in the recession.

"Tide Basic" is hitting shelves in some 100 Wal-Mart and Kroger Co. stores in southern and southwest U.S. states. P&G spokesman Kash Shaikh said the new Tide product sells for some 20 percent less than the regular Tide powder, which generally retails for around $8 for the smallest container.

The six-decade-old Tide brand has more than $3 billion in annual sales, but it and other P&G products have lost sales to cheaper alternatives as households tighten spending.

The Cincinnati-based consumer products maker has reported good sales during the recession for lower-cost "Basic" versions of Charmin toilet paper and Bounty paper towels.

Shaikh said Tide Basic is aimed at households that haven't been using Tide, besides existing customers who want a lower price. It is available only in powder form, not liquid, and won't have all the latest cleaning technologies as the regular brand.

"It's a good clean at a good price," Shaikh said.

He said P&G expects the trial to quickly provide a good reading on the potential for a full-scale rollout.

P&G officials have said they expect the company's sales overall to remain slow this year.

Bob McDonald succeeded A.G. Lafley as CEO on Wednesday. Lafley, who remains as chairman, told analysts recently that P&G plans to offer a range of prices and products to suit different household budgets.

Among Tide products launched in the past year have been the upper-end Tide Total Care and a Stain Release laundry additive.

 

[gansky1]

Good, but...

They should be focusing their energies on New "Vintage Tide" with the old scent(s) - who wouldn't love to smell the "washday of your childhood" again?

 

[strongenough78]

I agree!

Another vintage scent they need to bring back is DASH. I so miss the smell of that stuff. I say we harass these companies til they give us our vintage detergents back!

 

[jeffg]

"It is available only in powder form, not liquid, and won't have all the latest cleaning technologies as the regular brand."

It'll be fun to see how much cleaning power Tide has without enzymes. I'm guessing next to none.

 

[kqkenmore]

I love Tide but they can have Tide basic if it is like Charmin and Bounty basic they suck.I have been told by my mate that if I bring home either of those basics I will be divorced.The reason people do not buy Tide is because they do not want tide.What they need to do is reduce the price of Tide or put out high value coupons like they use to ex.2.00 off.I agree that they need to bring back some of the vintage names and scents.Dash is what we used when I was growing up and I miss it also the vintage scent of Tide.

 

[launderess]

Tide goes on sale often enough that if one shopped carefully and stocked up it should last the duration. I mean we're not speaking about storing fresh food or some such.

IMHO people either like Tide products or they don't. Also P&G isn't giving away anything, so if the product costs less it stands to reason something is "missing". One gets what they pay for.

L.

 

[supersuds]

Huh?

An article about this in the Wall Street Journal says:

"Tide Basic won't have some of the 'bells and whistles' in regular Tide, such as fragrance-heightening technology....."

What the heck is fragrance-heightening technology? More perfume? If that's what they leave out, it will be an improvement over most of the versions they have out now.

 

[launderess]

Have Said This Before

P&G holds patents to various technology and chemicals that cause scent to remain in clothing long after it is dried, either by machine or otherwise. This the reason why one smells those heavy perfume Tide scents including their stabs at "Lavender and Violets" and such days or even weeks after doing the wash. It is also why washing those darn scents out of laundry is difficult.

Apparently some darn fools did market research and reported back consumers wanted whatever scent from their laundry products to last not only after wash is tumble dried, but after storage as well.

Have a huge bottle of Tide "Simple Pleasures" in Lavender and "whatever" scent and it is barely used, and probably will go into the rubbish. Not only is the scent powerful and rather, well gross, it does not wash out easily. Several washes afterwards one can not only smell the scent on laundry, but in the wash and rinse waters as well.

Another patent and technology used by P&G is the inclusion of "Febreeze" technology into laundry detergents and fabric softeners. If one knew what was in Febreeze, you certianly wouldn't wish to wear it next to one's skin.

 

[angus]

Apparently almost everyone seems to like these fragrances that cling like glue to the laundry. I have noticed in recent months that sitting on the train on the daily commute into NYC that I am surrounded by the scents of other peoples' laundry. Granted I happen to have a very sensitive nose, but even sitting in meetings, those heavy, sickly sweet scents are completely overpowering, between the detergent and the fabric softener.

I still cannot understand why P&G simply won't revive the original scents of Tide, Cheer and Gain. There is a whole generation that doesn't even know what those scents were. I take particular offense at the Gain commercial that touts the scent of Gain as the "scent you fell in love with". Today's Gain smells nothing like the original. But I guess I am just an old Dinosaur about these things.

 

[rolls_rapide]

If one knew what was in Febreeze, you certianly wouldn't

What exactly is in it?

 

[alr2903]

I bought a dependable care maytag off craigs list a couple weeks back and whatever the fabric softner was (it was green) the machine still reeks of it, after washing only rags in Very hot water with LCB, i even scrubbed the dispenser and the "barrel of the agitator with a toothbrush and it still reeks, even with the lid wide open. Give me 1/2 of a dollar store dryer sheet for static in colors and i am good to go. I miss Lemon Fab powder, I think someone mentioned the Sears detergent has a lite lemon scent. Does it?

 

[kqkenmore]

sears detergent has a lite lemon scent

sears detergent does have a light lemon scent if you get the original in the orange box.I also liked lemon fab too.I hate all of this detergent that smells like a french whorehouse and you cannot get rid of the scent

 

[launderess]

Febreze

Cyclodextrin.

 

[animasinsulinpu]

Ban Suavitel

Anyone like this fabric softener? Someone on here once posted a link to "ban Suavitel.com". Very funny!! But that stuff almost makes me want to blow chuncks. When I did use it I could smell it at my Circle-K store. Nasty crap....Bill in Az.....

 

[whitekingd]

Oh, Bill!!

I LOVE Suavitel! But that is the reason I use fabric softener - for the scent. Field of Flowers, Festival of Flowers, Lilac, I love them all. And they last soooooo long!!

 

[kenmorekeith]

Vintage Scents

I would love to smell the old tide.Also blue cheer,cascade,oxydol and the old reg clorox 2 powder.

 

[veg-o-matic]

Cyclodextrin

"cyclodextrin
Ring-shaped glucose molecule chain created in 1993 at Osaka University, Japan. Cyclodextrins are commonly used in food additives, and can also be used as capsules to deliver drugs, as cutters to separate ions and molecules, and as catalysts for chemical reactions."

If I remember correctly, the cyclodextrin in Febreze is made from corn. Seems a lot safer to have that next to one's skin than some of the other chemicals in detergents.

veg

 

[whirlcool]

If I remember correctly, back in the 80's wasn't there an uproar about too much scenting? Like people being gassed in elevators by womens overpowering perfume. People complained about as much about that as they did about cigarette smoke.

Laundress, I remember your comments about the Tide Rose & Violet detergent you used one time. You stated that your ironing board reeked of the scent after ironing a few items washed in that detergent. That gave me a chuckle. Thanks for the forewarning. But we never use Tide because of the sudsing quotient. Our WP shredder would whip up a storm of suds with Tide.

As for Sauvitel. We used to use the Baby Fresh Scent until we couldn't find it anymore. We tried the Flower Fields 3X version and washed our sheets in it. We couldn't stand to be in that bed with that odor! It burned our eyes and noses! We actually had to change the bed sheets in the middle of the first night! Didn't someone here also say that a neighbor used Sauvitel and when they dried their clothes it stunk up THEIR backyard?
Last weekend I put in 1 drop of the stuff in the rinse water thinking that would be enough for a load of sheets. We almost couldn't get in the bed that night. It wasn't as bad as the first time, but it still REEKED! We actually don't use any softener now, we love the scent of line dried clothes much better. We have been using Gain with Baking Powder which is a pretty light scent and occasionally use FOCA on more heavily siled items. FOCA has a very light scent too.

 

[dirtybuck]

kenmorekeith:

I used to LOVE the older Tide, Cheer and Oxydol scents. They really made the laundry smell extra fresh.

The one detergent that I like the smell of is Tide HE. In my opinion, it SLIGHTLY resembles the smell of Dash. But, at 8.50 a box, I'll stick to my Surf "with All stain fighters".