Hey everybody. What is Henkel's top shelf dishwasher detergent and rinse aid? I can't seem to find them in any stores. What are their products from their most basic to their most advanced?
Top Shelf dishwasher detergent and rinse aid from Henkel
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volvoman
Well-known member
"... I can't seem to find them in any stores...."
And you won't.
That's because Henkel does not sell Somat (their brand of dishwasher products) in the USA. Your best bet would be to purchase it online from an importer - or maybe even Amazon or eBay.
Keep in mind that P&G and Reckitt-Benckiser own the US dishwasher detergent market - lock, stock, and key. Cascade and Finish have 97% of the shelf space, followed by smaller players (Colgate-Palmolive, Seventh Generation, and whatever store/private label brands are out there).
You might be wondering WHY Henkel won't bring over Somat (or a re-branded version of it)? Simple. Because P&G and R-B own so much of the market, it'd be foolish for them to try and compete. Much like how P&G dominates the laundry detergent market.
Hope this helps.
And you won't.
That's because Henkel does not sell Somat (their brand of dishwasher products) in the USA. Your best bet would be to purchase it online from an importer - or maybe even Amazon or eBay.
Keep in mind that P&G and Reckitt-Benckiser own the US dishwasher detergent market - lock, stock, and key. Cascade and Finish have 97% of the shelf space, followed by smaller players (Colgate-Palmolive, Seventh Generation, and whatever store/private label brands are out there).
You might be wondering WHY Henkel won't bring over Somat (or a re-branded version of it)? Simple. Because P&G and R-B own so much of the market, it'd be foolish for them to try and compete. Much like how P&G dominates the laundry detergent market.
Hope this helps.
henkel dishwasher market
It's like Henkel won't compete in the dishwasher market just as RB won't compete with the laundry market with a top shelf detergent or softener.
It's like Henkel won't compete in the dishwasher market just as RB won't compete with the laundry market with a top shelf detergent or softener.
Same issue here:
Dishwashing: Finish (R&B) and Fairy (P&G) almost totally dominate dishwasher detergent. Unilever used to have presence with Sun, but seems to have entirely given up and Henkel was never present.
Laundry: Unilever (Persil, Surf and Confort softener — umpteen versions and formats of all) or P&G (Ariel, Bold, Daz and Lenor softener — again umpteen versions).
Henkel does some niche stuff, but has no mainstream detergents and Colgate Palmolive didn’t touch that market here either.
Henkel only big presence here in household products is areas like toilet cleaners and laundry additives etc. They seem to never have had much foothold here.
Dishwashing: Finish (R&B) and Fairy (P&G) almost totally dominate dishwasher detergent. Unilever used to have presence with Sun, but seems to have entirely given up and Henkel was never present.
Laundry: Unilever (Persil, Surf and Confort softener — umpteen versions and formats of all) or P&G (Ariel, Bold, Daz and Lenor softener — again umpteen versions).
Henkel does some niche stuff, but has no mainstream detergents and Colgate Palmolive didn’t touch that market here either.
Henkel only big presence here in household products is areas like toilet cleaners and laundry additives etc. They seem to never have had much foothold here.
somat
The reason why I asked is because I wanted to try somat detergent and rinse aid.
The reason why I asked is because I wanted to try somat detergent and rinse aid.
volvoman
Well-known member
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somat
What is the best detergent from somat? What's their highest offering? I know Finish has the Ultimate in the US, while Cascade has Platinum Plus.
What is the best detergent from somat? What's their highest offering? I know Finish has the Ultimate in the US, while Cascade has Platinum Plus.
Somat seems to have endless versions on Amazon.de
We used to have Somat here sold under the Glist brand. They were really good, and I was sad to see them discontinued.
I figure they just couldn’t break the market dominance that Finish had at the time, even back then Fairy had quite a small market share compared to Finish. It was only really in the late 2000s that Fairy seemed to gain popularity as a dishwasher brand.
I figure they just couldn’t break the market dominance that Finish had at the time, even back then Fairy had quite a small market share compared to Finish. It was only really in the late 2000s that Fairy seemed to gain popularity as a dishwasher brand.
somat
I would love to see somat break into the American dishwasher market. We used to have a variety of dishwasher detergents and rinse aids, which is a shame we don't have it anymore.
I would love to see somat break into the American dishwasher market. We used to have a variety of dishwasher detergents and rinse aids, which is a shame we don't have it anymore.
Here’s the background to it. They seem to have launched it about 22 years ago and given up:
https://www.marketingweek.com/glist-flop-stalls-henkel-uk-drive/
https://www.marketingweek.com/glist-flop-stalls-henkel-uk-drive/
I have some experience with the Somat line of dishwasher detergents. I buy them from Amazon and while they are not cheap by any means, what detergent is these days. I have used the Somat Classic Powder and it does a decent job cleaning and has a scent that I could describe as lemony in ways. The Somat Excellence Tabs are on par with Cascade Platinum Plus with performance. These tabs use powder and gel like Cascade does. The one I have been buying lately is the Somat Gold Tabs and they perform just as well as the Somat Excellence tabs in my opinion. I find that the Somat line works quite well with the hard water conditions that I have here in FL without the the need for a water softener since it has the salt built into the detergent.
Somat Rinse Aid does a great job but its no different than lets say Jet Dry or Cascade rinse aids. The one plus about the Somat rinse aid is its bottle pour spout and what I do is that when I ran out of the Somat rinse aid I kept the bottle and just refill it with Jet Dry. The spout is a pull up spout and makes it easier to load the rinse aid dispenser in my LG dishwasher.
I used to buy Somat dishwasher salt when I had my Miele dishwasher years ago since it wasn't as expensive as the Miele branded salts.
I think of Somat detergents as Persil , but for your dishwasher. Its that good.
Somat Rinse Aid does a great job but its no different than lets say Jet Dry or Cascade rinse aids. The one plus about the Somat rinse aid is its bottle pour spout and what I do is that when I ran out of the Somat rinse aid I kept the bottle and just refill it with Jet Dry. The spout is a pull up spout and makes it easier to load the rinse aid dispenser in my LG dishwasher.
I used to buy Somat dishwasher salt when I had my Miele dishwasher years ago since it wasn't as expensive as the Miele branded salts.
I think of Somat detergents as Persil , but for your dishwasher. Its that good.
somat gold
So, what do you think is the highest tier of the somat pods line? I just wish they made detergent and rinse aid over here and sold them in stores so I can try them. We used to have a variety of detergent and rinse aid brands. It seems no longer the case.[this post was last edited: 1/23/2025-12:21]
So, what do you think is the highest tier of the somat pods line? I just wish they made detergent and rinse aid over here and sold them in stores so I can try them. We used to have a variety of detergent and rinse aid brands. It seems no longer the case.[this post was last edited: 1/23/2025-12:21]
This is the high end Somat
Somat is available on Amazon, but the caps cost a dollar a load.
