"Is it normal for large companies such as, say, P&G to make the same product - in the same package - but change the scent for where it is sold? And do some retired scents end up elsewhere?"
Answer to your first query is "yes". P&G like Unilever, Henkel/Dial and the rest have huge R&D along with marketing departments that are among other things responsible for gearing products to certain markets, even when part of same line.
For instance P&G long tested Tide detergent (at least when it was a powder) in markets across USA to see how it worked with different water supplies and other factors.
Detergents also are tested against common soils for market intended. UK for instance is big on beetroot and curry, so any detergent worth its salt must tackle those soils. In France it is red wine (surprise, surprise)....
Scent wise for both laundry detergents and fabric softeners, yes there is a wide variety of what local noses find acceptable. IMHO many products in France are far to highly scented,but the French seem to love strong scents overall including on laundry.
What smells like "fresh" clean laundry varies by region as well. Mexican and Latin American laundry products IMHO overall are powerfully scented. Even Ace (their Tide) seems different scent wise than Tide.
Lavender is very popular scent for laundry detergents and fabric softeners sold in France, but you don't see that much of it about in States.
P&G like many other conglomerates IIRC has moved to a "North American" model which means products are for Mexico, USA and Canada. Some are targeted mostly for one country (hence your Downy bottle entirely in Spanish), while others are printed in English/French/Spanish, or just English/Spanish, or English/French.
P&G like others do have expiration dates for their laundry products. Things that don't sell in say USA supermarkets are taken back and moved on to discount/off price places. Although given how frequently Tide is on sale at Rite Aid have a hunch they are getting things that are close to end of shelf life date.
P&G won't sell products that are expired that am aware of; retired products again as with things that didn't sell are moved on to various sources.
Remember that poster who popped up in here asking about that box of Bold detergent no one in USA had seen before, but swore he purchased at some odd lots type of store? That's the sort of thing am talking about.
P&G also knows suppliers or distributors are getting their hands on products meant for sale in Mexico or Canada by various means besides official channels.
Remember years ago now people were buying all that phosphate laden Mexican detergents that were showing up where they shouldn't? P&G at first stated they had nothing to do with how various vendors got their mitts on such things. Later they simply removed phosphates from all laundry products period, so that solved that issue.
Once confined to major urban areas, the Latino/Hispanic consumer market is booming nearly everywhere in USA. As such am not surprised various products intended for south of the border keep popping up.
