Not Your Same Old Soap

Once upon a time, restroom soap was just a tool to better sanitize one’s hands. There weren’t a lot of options — soap was soap.

Well, that’s no longer the case. As end user customers have become more savvy in their search for hand soap, the market has opened up to provide a variety of options.

“Some distributors might mistakenly think that soap is a stagnant product category, but this is really a growing commercial market,” says June Stahl, president of Stahl Soap, an East Rutherford, N.J.-based soap manufacturer.

As the at-home, retail market for soap has exploded with expensive, high-end soaps, some jan/san manufacturers believe that the commercial industry is experiencing a similar evolution.

“The new lines of luxury soaps are allowing distributors to compete with the Bath & Body Works of the world,” says Mitchell Mark, president and owner of Snee Chemical, Harahan, La. “At-home use translates into away-from-home use. It’s a separate market to a large extent, but away-from-home products are often driven by at-home markets.”

Mark explains that consumers are willing to pay “well over $15” for luxury hand soaps for their homes, so it’s only natural that they would expect a similar quality of soap when they visit commercial restrooms.

Many manufacturers are attempting to capitalize on new consumer trends in luxury soaps by offering products with essential oils, vitamin E and aloe. Nevertheless, price concerns are still a substantial obstacle — an obstacle that doesn’t really exist for the at-home market, says Stahl.

“Some people want what they can get in a retail market,” she says. “But they don’t want to pay in bulk for the commercial market what they’re willing to pay as individuals in the retail market. Sure, there are always going to be first-class hotels that want the luxury soaps, but the majority of customers still care primarily about price.”

Dennis Joy, sales manager for Simoniz, Bolton, Conn., agrees that the at-home soap market has a limited impact on the away-from-home market. “I would take a middle-of-the-road stance on novelty soaps,” he says. “The hand-soap market is still a market where people don’t want to spend a lot of money, but I do think that distributors need to be aware of the trends.”

One aspect of these new markets is an increased appreciation of scented soaps, he adds.

Scents and Sensibility
“We’ve got a few scented soaps that are really taking off, and it could be due to the popularity of similar scents in the at-home market,” says Joy. “Our almond scent has been popular for the past few years, and it looks like it’s still growing in popularity.”

TimeMist, a leading manufacturer of restroom soap and soap dispensers, Waterbury, Conn., knows a thing or two about popular scents. The company also manufactures scented air-fresheners for commercial restrooms.

“We can match our air-freshener scent to the scent of the soap in the dispenser,” says Rob Wolfson, brand manager for TimeMist. “For example, mango has been our most popular scent and that can be matched to the mango-scented soap.”

The double-punch of restroom scent isn’t overpowering, he adds. “It’s not too much for people because it’s a really light scent.”

In order for a particular scent to be popular in the jan/san market — like almond or mango — a lot of research is done to make sure it has broad appeal, says Mike Elms, senior chemist at MultiClean, Shoreview, Minn.

“You have to have a great-smelling fragrance to sell to the masses,” says Elms. “Some people are sensitive to fragrances, so our company also gives distributors the option of purchasing a quality hand soap without any scent or dye. By and large, however, customers appreciate a nice fragrance, because it enhances the perception of a clean, fresh restroom.”

For MultiClean, Elms explains that distributors have had a lot of success with specific scents, so the company has funded more research in those areas.

“We find that the floral or citrus scents do quite well, so we’ve produced more of those,” he says. “Actually, our most popular soaps are those that are a blend of citrus and floral scents. Because it’s a blend, customers can’t put their finger on the exact scent, but they know that they like it. It sells well if you can’t say, ‘That’s strawberry’ or ‘That’s peach.’”

Snee Chemical has had success offering a line of hand soaps that use a blend of “exotic” oils, says Mark. “There are no synthetic perfumes,” he says. “We introduced it at the ISSA show, and we ran out of a couple thousand samples. It’s all-natural and biodegradable, so its scent is simple and not overpowering.

In the end, soap scents are really a matter of preference, says Stahl. “It’s such a personal issue,” she says. “The fragrance that a particular building or customer chooses is often just because that’s the preference of the building’s purchasing manager. We try to provide several samples, so that distributors can get a good idea about what their customers like ahead of time.”

Foam Is Here To Stay
In addition to investing in new research for soap scents, jan/san manufacturers have spent a lot of time and money selling distributors on the foaming-soap trend — a trend that’s here to stay, says Elms.

“I must admit that when it first came out, I thought foaming soap would be a spike trend that would go away after a while,” he says. “But now it’s obvious that it’s a fact of life. Foaming soaps are here to stay; we really haven’t found a downside to them yet.”

Warsaw Chemical Co., Inc., a Warsaw, Ind.-based manufacturer of hand soaps, recently started offering a foaming-soap option to its distributors.

“We just recently introduced the foaming soap system about a month ago,” says Kevin Caswell, sales manager for Warsaw. “We primarily sell cartridges that can be placed in a foaming-soap dispenser, but distributors can also buy the liquid soap in bulk, which is more economical. Although we sell it in liquid form, the dispenser turns it into foam in the users hand.”

There are two major reasons that foaming soap has become so popular, says Elms.

“The foaming hand soaps have taken over in a big way,” he says. “From a user point of view, it’s richer, creamier, and you don’t need to lather it up. That’s a great convenience that everyone seems to love — from kids to adults. From a purchasing standpoint, you can buy less soap and use it more effectively.”

Part of the reason foaming soap is so effective, he adds, is that less soap is required for each hand washing. “With traditional liquid soaps, a person would get a gram and a half of soap every time he or she pulled the dispenser lever,” says Elms. “Now, foaming soap gives only .7 or .8 grams of soap per stroke, but that’s easily enough for a person to wash thoroughly.”

Wash, But Don’t Touch
The other major trend in restroom soaps is that of the touchless soap dispenser, says Simoniz’s Joy.

“It’s really just the next step in the evolution of the touchless restroom,” he says. “Stemming from touchless faucets, toilets and paper dispensers, users want to avoid cross-contamination as much as possible in the restroom.”

While some jan/san professionals — even a few soap manufacturers — aren’t convinced that a touchless soap dispenser is really necessary, Joy explains that it has two major benefits.

“First, it helps the user develop a good impression of the restroom, because it enhances the perception of the area being clean,” he says. “Second, it’s definitely possible for a person to touch a soap dispenser lever and leave bacteria there. Over time, the bacteria can build up, and people will avoid using the dispenser because they don’t want to be exposed to cross contamination.”

In addition, Simoniz has done research that shows that patrons wash their hands more often when given the option of using a touchless soap dispenser.

“One of our distributors in New Jersey put our touchless soap dispensers on only the third floor of a five-story office building,” says Joy. “The building manager soon needed four more touchless soap dispensers, because all the office workers were going to the third floor to use the one that was there.”

TimeMist’s version of the touchless soap dispenser can also serve as a touchless instant hand sanitizer dispenser. “It’s another option that we didn’t have before,” says Wolfson. “A lot of customers — especially in the health care market — were requesting a touchless dispenser of instant hand sanitizer to fight cross-contamination, so we created one.”

Despite its newfound popularity, not every manufacturer is singing the praises of the touchless soap dispenser.

“We do have a touchless dispenser for foaming soap, but, in my opinion, touchless solutions are more valuable when you’re dealing with paper or a touchless water faucet,” says Warsaw’s Caswell. “With soap, I’m not sure that the touchless dispenser is really so important, because any touching happens before you wash your hands.”

Joy says that he understands the argument against touchless soap dispensers, but again emphasizes the perception of the restroom. “The truth is that this is the direction that restrooms are headed,” he says. “People want to avoid cross-contamination, so they don’t want to touch anything in the restroom. The more we can help them out, the better off our company — and our distributors — will be.”

Be Good To Your Skin
With all the new dispensing options, distributors still need to remind their customers of the basics of soap from a chemical standpoint. Hand soaps and hand sanitizers remove moisture from the skin along with dirt and oils, often leaving skin dry and vulnerable.

To combat this problem, the vast majority of soap manufacturers have experimented with adding moisturizing elements to their product lines — aloe vera, vitamin E and “essential” oils, to name a few.

“Our restroom hand soaps have a lot of moisturizers and vitamin E,” says Wolfson. “We often hear customers complain about how soaps can dry out their hands, so we’re always looking at new ways to prevent that.”

However, restroom soap is never designed to actually be a moisturizer, says Stahl. “Remember that soap has a function, and that function is to remove excess oils and dirt,” she says. “We can always put a few moisturizing elements in the soap, but it is never going to be aloe-based or oil-based, because then it couldn’t perform its function, which is to remove oils.”

If distributors have any questions about how to better market their soap lines, all of the manufacturers SM interviewed for this article said that they welcome inquiries. Soap is changing, and distributors need to change with it.