Wonder Wash’s Europe success creates blueprint for other key markets

In 2024 and 2025, our Home Care business in Europe delivered market-beating growth after several years of subdued performance. This was driven in large part by scalable, multi-year innovations developed in response to fast-evolving household cleaning trends.

Wonder Wash, from our Dirt Is Good Power Brand, sits at the heart of this turnaround. As the biggest disruptor in the laundry category for decades, it’s designed to work in short cycles, leveraging the insight that 80% of consumers in key global markets use the quick wash setting on their machine at least once a week.

The innovation helped OMO become No.1 in laundry liquids in the UK, France and Türkiye, attracting new consumers to the brand. We introduced the product across Robijn in the Netherlands and Surf Excel in the UK to appeal to the growing number of affluent urbanites. And in Italy, it has helped us establish Coccolino in the Fabric Cleaning category for the first time.

In 2026, we have introduced in France and the UK Wonder Wash Max, with a more powerful formula designed to remove stains, city grime and malodour in short cycles while maintaining a strong fragrance experience.

This success in Europe has given us a blueprint for launch in two of our largest growth opportunities, India and Brazil.

“Wonder Wash is a category-defining innovation,” says Giovanna Gomes, Head of Fabric Cleaning and Dirt Is Good. “As well as addressing a huge gap in the market, it also marks the fastest deployment of an innovation from our Home Care business, on the back of unprecedented consumer demand. We’re now taking our core proposition coupled with deep global insights and tailoring it to suit local markets.”

India presents the biggest opportunity

With living standards and washing machine penetration rising and urban lifestyles speeding up, Indian consumers are spending more on laundry, trading up from powders to liquids.

Liquid detergents are growing four times faster than the rest of the market and yet still only make up 10% of the category. Surf Excel, India’s biggest laundry detergent brand in value terms, is ideally positioned to capitalise on this trend.

India’s growing affluent consumer base, expected to reach 90 million by 2030, is increasingly looking for the speed, convenience and fabric-care benefits already seen in Europe and the US. As wardrobes expand and fabrics diversify, consumers are moving beyond basic stain removal towards faster, more premium laundry solutions, typically in liquid formats, that protect clothes and fit busier lifestyles.

Surf Excel Matic liquid and Matic Express support this trade-up through market-specific malodour removal and fragrance experiences, including higher-intensity scents tailored to Indian preferences.

“The biggest growth opportunity for Unilever Home Care is in liquids in India,” says Giovanna, “where we see consumers trading up from bars and powders to liquids for superior performance and convenience. Market-making innovations like Surf Excel Matic liquid and Matic Express are helping us win in the higher-growth and more profitable premium segments.”

Brazil poised for significant growth

In Brazil, where the use of liquid detergents is also growing fast, 63% of consumers already use short cycle at least once a week to streamline their laundry routines (source, Unilever Research 2025). Projections suggest the short-cycle segment could create an additional market opportunity of around €100 million by 2029.

Our power brand OMO, which reaches 7 out of 10 Brazilian households, is well placed to seize the opportunity. Its short-cycle innovation, OMO Ciclo Rápido, caters perfectly not only to Brazilians’ increasing desire for speed and convenience but also for a more premium laundry experience.

Following the largest fragrance investment in the brand’s history, Brazilian consumers are embracing the powerful and sophisticated scents of OMO Ciclo Rápido, inspired by high-end fragrance.

Giovanna says: “Unilever’s short-cycle range has truly earned its reputation as the most significant innovation in liquid detergents in a decade. These results underscore the strong impact and rapid adoption of the range, reflecting both its appeal and effectiveness.”

Frequently asked questions

• What is Wonder Wash?

  Wonder Wash is a laundry liquid detergent from Unilever’s Dirt Is Good brand, designed to deliver effective cleaning in short cold washing machine cycles as quick as 15 minutes. It launched in 2024 and has become Unilever Home Care’s most successful product innovation in over a decade.

• Does cold wash detergent actually clean clothes properly?

  Yes. Wonder Wash is specifically formulated to perform in cold water and short cycles, addressing the most common concern about low-temperature washing. Conventional detergents are optimised for warm or hot water; Wonder Wash works with the science of cold-water cleaning rather than against it.

• What brands is Wonder Wash sold under?

  Wonder Wash is primarily associated with the Dirt Is Good masterbrand, which includes regional labels such as OMO, Persil and Surf Excel. As the technology expands into new markets, it may launch under different local fabric care brand names to maximise familiarity and consumer trust in each market.