It may come as a surprise to learn that people often don’t use their household items properly. For example, did you know that dish sponges should be replaced every week to avoid collecting nasty bacteria? Or, that some commonly used household cleaning products lose their effectiveness over time? Dishwashing detergents should be replaced every three months as the enzymes in detergents degrade and they no longer effectively remove grime from dishes.
Consumers are always researching
As a brand manufacturer, you are tuned into consumer needs and your products are most often the answer to solutions they seek. The best solutions are delivered with advice around utilization for optimal results. Direction around appropriate usage and quantity of consumption – whether it’s a dietary supplement, an eye cream, or a cleaning product. Advice and guidelines can demonstrate to shoppers that you understand their needs and your product will provide a solution.
And want quality assurance
Shoppers recognize the benefit of auto-replenishment and are already setting their most commonly used goods – toilet paper, toothpaste, coffee, etc., on shopping auto-pilot. Customers are able to identify great replenishable candidates by assessing frequency of use. However, many products may not have an obvious indicator of a replacement cadence. The products that come to mind are toothbrushes, disposable razors, cosmetics, eye drops and even some household cleaners where chemical compounds breakdown over time, expending product efficacy.
Integrating into an auto-replenishment program give brand manufacturers an opportunity to further educate shoppers on ideal replacement cycles for quality assurance.
No more reminders necessary
As a shopper myself, I would love a program that would help me set my home up for success by recommending a frequency cycle that not only takes into account my household consumption rates, but provides me with a recommended replacement cycle. This is where I could set an item on auto-replenishment, which becomes an automatic reminder to replace. In this way, it’s no longer necessary to manage one-off reminders.
Here's an example of how my personal ideal replenishment shopping list for essentials would look to keep my healthy home:
Having my above list set to auto-replenishment gives me the confidence that I’ll never run out of home essentials and that the water in my water pitcher will always be fresh, my electric toothbrush head is always in the state of maximum defense against oral disease, and my dish sponges won’t be collecting bacteria. Enabling optimal replenishment cycles helps optimize my healthy regimes and keeps me accountable to a healthy routine.
Sharon Kim, a Replenium Senior Site Merchandiser, is a customer-focused experience expert with an inherent drive for customer advocacy. She spent most of her career at a major international retailer following the customer journey – always working to make shopping in every form easier. Sharon leverages her knowledge of the shopper to help evolve customer service through auto-replenishment.
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