The pandemic accelerated key market trends in the industrial and institutional cleaning industry over the past two years, causing dynamic changes and driving growth. Today, these trends continue strong.
For example, the share of end users buying cleaning products via e-commerce sites rose dramatically during the pandemic — not only on Amazon, but also on the websites of distributors and retailers. This continues to be the case. Supply-chain shortages and out-of-stocks at retailers and distributors led to an increase in the number of end users sourcing cleaning supplies directly from manufacturers, which resulted in an increase in the stockpiling of supplies. This has caused some flatness in demand and sales for various categories in 2022.
Significant and unusual events that transpired during the pandemic triggered extremes in the industry — much higher, and in some cases significantly lower, sales of certain product categories and among some end-use segments. In 2021, for example, restaurants, lodging establishments, schools, and recreational facilities, such as concert halls, fitness facilities, and sport stadiums, experienced double-digit gains over 2020 demand, given that these facilities had reopened and were practicing more frequent cleaning protocols than before the pandemic. Sales of warewash chemicals were down significantly in 2020 due to restaurant closures and reduced on-premise dining. At the same time, categories like hand soaps, hand sanitizers, surface disinfectants, and disinfectant and sanitizer wipes have experienced unprecedented surges in sales since the start of the pandemic.
Key trends, sales, growth, market segmentation by product type, end-use segments, suppliers, and forecasts to 2026 are included in our Year in Review 2021 and Industry Outlook Through 2026 report, published as part of KlinePULSE Industrial & Institutional Cleaning Industry Trends: Annual Service. The scope of this report includes janitorial cleaning products (front of house [FOH]), foodservice cleaning (back of house [BOH]), and I&I wipes, providing a comprehensive assessment of the overall industrial and institutional cleaning industry.
