Video: Persil ‘Wonder Wash’ development at Unilever R&D facility (CNBC Europe)

[novum]

Just a video some of you might find interesting. CNBC Europe did a piece with Unilever about their R&D facilities and their “Wonder Wash” product line, which is sold in the UK, Ireland and several other markets, including France under the Skip brand.

It’s an interesting piece, although the have managed to use stock video of a Henkel Persil production line right at the start

It’s a definitely a PR piece, but interesting nonetheless:

 

[tomturbomatic]

It sure seems frothy, at least in the wash.

 

[novum]

Unilever liquids have been very frothy for quite a long time — not just this recent edition.

They are confusing me at the moment.

They’re selling Wonder Wash, in 3 versions all aimed at fast washes.
Then they’ve their usual top of the line Persil Bio, Colour and Non-Bio Liquid.
And you’ve Persil Ultimate liquid, in 3 versions, which seems to be priced at the exact same tier as the regular liquids.

I suspect Ireland is possibly getting the continental European version of Skip branded as Persil though because of Brexit. It also could be because people weren’t all that fond of the scents they introduced with Persil Ultimate, which are quite strong.

Then they’ve various versions of their capsules (pods) too..

The powder is starting to become hard to find. You can usually get the big green box of Persil Bio powder and the blue box of non-bio, colour powder seems to be gone entirely and the smaller format packs are rare.

 

[petek]

It's all marketing hooey to commandeer shelf space in the grocery stores.

 

[novum]

I haven’t really seen any difference in how Wonder Wash performs tbh.

It’s a bit simpler though, a liquid rather than yet more pods, which is at least something.

 

[vacbear58]

Persil Colour Powder

I agree that Persil Colour Powder seems to have gone from the supermarkets in UK, and indeed there are not many other brands of Colour powder either, as I saw was Aldi's own brand. I was able to get some from Amazon though at a reasonable price for a pack of four boxes, I dont know how it would work out in Ireland though.

 

[novum]

Amazon has arrangements for anything they stock themselves. The Irish market has been served by the Amazon UK website for years —it just switches to Euro when your address is set here. It’s a bit weird considering that Amazon has a huge distribution centre just outside Dublin and a couple of smaller fulfilment centres, and operates its own delivery vans etc The UK Amazon Marketplace is pointless though if it’s from small retailers actually in the UK, and it’s much easier to shop within the EU. All of their .de, .fr, .es stores deliver here without any issues.

They’re also launching Amazon.ie fairly soon for the Irish market specifically, so I suspect there’ll be a lot of changes.

A lot of the big brands online have fulfilment centres in Ireland itself or within the EU on the continent that serve here. I just shop online in Ireland or in EU / EEA countries these days. It’s unfortunately no longer really feasible to shop direct from the UK anymore. [this post was last edited: 1/20/2025-18:20]

 

[vacbear58]

As I recall the Persil came from Amazon itself rather than a retailer.

 

[ozzie908]

Just a side note

Tania Bryer the presenter is the granddaughter of The Old gent I looked after in USA, Brings back memories of her Mother who was in her 70's skinny dipping in the pool

 

[novum]

It’s a small world sometimes!

But yeah, seems the manufacturers are intent on dropping powers.

Unilever no longer manufactures the powders btw. As far as I’m aware they’re currently being made by a Spanish contract manufacturer that usually does private label stuff for supermarkets.

Seems they just see it as a legacy product, yet most washing machines are still primarily geared up towards dispensing powders, although I suppose we have more and more auto dispensing systems and some of the Electrolux family of brands seem to have pod dispensers.

 

[lavamat_jon]

Persil Colour powder

I noticed while shopping today that Morrisons still stock Persil colour powder in a 21 wash box for £4.25. Although it is the only colour detergent they sell in powder form.

I’ve been using Aldi’s Almat and Lidl Formil colour and bio powders for years now, and always found they wash as well as if not better than the more expensive branded equivalents.

https://groceries.morrisons.com/products/persil-washing-power-colour-protect-21-washes/111640043

 

[novum]

Irish Supermarket Comparison

I'm just curious to see if this is the exact same range as the UK

That's just the word 'Persil' searched for in a large Irish supermarket chain, Dunnes Stores:

https://www.dunnesstoresgrocery.com/sm/delivery/rsid/445/results?q=persil

Full laundry 'aisle' : https://www.dunnesstoresgrocery.com...ategories/household-cleaning/laundry-id-47593