Is your home truly clean?
Sensory first,
loyalty split.
Fragrance and skin-feel now beat grease-cutting 2-to-1 in dishwashing, while Vim leads women by 12.8 points and Domex and Cif struggle to turn satisfaction into advocacy.
Explore the findingsTwo-thirds buy on feel and smell.
No brand owns the feeling yet.
Prioritise pleasant lemon fragrance (36.0%) or gentleness on hands (30.3%) over tough grease removal (24.4%). Base all respondents, n=442.
Report pp. 2, 10Vim preference is 44.4% among female decision-makers but 31.6% among males — a 12.8-point deficit. Gender bases not stated; directional.
Report pp. 2-3, 5Of floor moppers, 87.7% also hand-wash dishes — the anchor for floor plus dishwash bundling. Base about 122 floor moppers within n=442.
Report pp. 2-3, 13All figures are stated preferences and intent, not observed purchases. Gender and format cuts lack printed bases and read as directional; residuals are marked on charts.
Feeling beats function, but no brand owns the feeling.
Six total-sample findings define the category shift; gender, age and format cuts underneath are directional where bases are small or unstated.
Household care in India has shifted from function to feeling — and no brand has claimed the feeling yet, while Vim leaks men, Domex stalls at pretty-good, and Cif is loved beyond its ratings.
Sensory beats grease
Base n=442: 36.0% lemon fragrance plus 30.3% gentle-on-hands vs 24.4% tough grease removal; grease-cutting is table stakes, fragrance and skin-feel differentiate.
Vim male deficit
Vim at 44.4% among women but 31.6% among men — a 12.8-point gap where Pril Liquid (18.9% of males) and Patanjali Bar (15.6%) gain. Directional; overall Vim leads at 37.3% of n=442.
Domex advocacy deficit
Only 92 of 237 high performance raters (4-5, base n=442) give top-box recommendation vs Harpic — 38.8%, reported as 39%. Efficacy alone does not break Harpic equity.
The bundleable routine
Base about 122 floor moppers within n=442: 87.7% also hand-wash dishes and clean kitchen slabs; floor mopping is the behavioural anchor for cross-category bundles.
Bathroom stands alone
Base n=442: 132 do bathroom floors and toilets as a standalone task — about 3x standalone dishwashing (11.3%) and slab cleaning (9.0%).
Cif premium paradox
Base n=442: only 21.9% (n=97) rate Cif surface performance Excellent while 67.4% give top-two-box recommendation; positioning drives advocacy ahead of perceived efficacy.
Defend Vim among men, premiumise dishwashing around fragrance and skin-care for the 66.3%, and convert Domex passives and Cif 4s with emotional equity — not more functional proof. Bundle floor plus dish along the 87.7% routine and enter via standalone bathroom care (29.9%).
Vim leads women, leaks men.
Stated daily dishwashing brand-format preference; the clearest portfolio signal, but gender bases are missing.
Vim preference overall vs by gender
Stated daily dishwashing brand-format preference
| Response | Share preferring Vim |
|---|---|
| Overall (n=442) | 37.3% |
| Female | 44.4% |
| Male | 31.6% |
Male alternatives
Where male buyers go instead
| Response | Share of male buyers |
|---|---|
| Vim | 31.6% |
| Pril (Liquid) | 18.9% |
| Patanjali (Bar) | 15.6% |
| Other / residual | 31.9% |
Only one in five calls Cif excellent.
Specialised-brand surface performance rating for Cif; the middle is large and fragile.
Cif surface rating
Specialised-brand performance, n=442
| Response | Respondents |
|---|---|
| 5, Excellent | 21.9% |
| 4 | 33% |
| 3 | 29.6% |
| 2 | 10.9% |
| 1, Poor | 4.5% |
Excellent by age
Top-box rating by age cohort
| Response | Rated 5 Excellent |
|---|---|
| 36-45 (n=105) | 24.8% |
| 18-24 (n=23) | 8.7% |
18-24 also rates 2 at 21.7% (n=5 of 23, illustrative); 25-35 sits in the middle with 33.3% rating 3 (n=79 of 237).
Satisfaction is not recommendation.
Likelihood to recommend Domex vs Harpic and Cif vs generics, plus the Domex conversion gap.
Recommend Domex vs Harpic
Likelihood to recommend, n=442
| Response | Respondents |
|---|---|
| 5 | 28.7% |
| 4 | 44.3% |
| 1-3 / residual | 27% |
Recommend Cif vs generics
Likelihood to recommend, n=442
| Response | Respondents |
|---|---|
| 5 | 30.3% |
| 4 | 37.1% |
| 3 / residual | 24.9% |
| 1-2 | 7.7% |
Domex performance versus recommendation
n=442| Performance | Recommendation | n |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | 4 | 83 |
| 3 | 4 | 57 |
| 3 | 3 | 50 |
| 5 | 5 | 50 |
| 4 | 5 | 42 |
| 5 | 4 | 31 |
| 3 | 5 | 21 |
| 2 | 4 | 21 |
| 4 | 3 | 16 |
| 5 | 3 | 12 |
Listed combos sum to 383; remaining 59 fall in unlisted combos. High performers (4-5) are 237; top-box recommenders among them are 92 (38.8%). Source: p. 12.
Two-thirds buy on smell and feel.
Most-important dishwashing feature and how Vim own users lag the shift.
Most important dishwashing feature
What matters most in dishwash, n=442
| Response | Respondents |
|---|---|
| Pleasant lemon fragrance | 36% |
| Gentle on hands | 30.3% |
| Tough grease removal | 24.4% |
| Other / unnamed | 9.3% |
Vim rating by preferred brand cohort
cohort bases unstated, directional| Preferred cohort | Mean (1-5) |
|---|---|
| Vim | 3.657 |
| Xpert | 3.571 |
| Exo | 3.418 |
| Patanjali | 3.375 |
| Nip | 3.333 |
| Pril (Liquid) | 3.273 |
| Other | 3.0 |
Cohort bases not stated — treat every mean as directional. Pril liquid users most critical of Vim. Source: p. 14.
Mop, slab, dish — one trip.
Which tasks travel together and which stand alone; the bundling and entry map.
Association rules
n=442, min support 0.1%| Task A | Task B | Both | A to B | B to A | Lift |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kitchen slabs | Floor mopping | 24.21% | 48.0% | 87.7% | 1.74 |
| Floor mopping | Hand dishwash | 24.21% | 87.7% | 46.9% | 1.70 |
| Kitchen slabs | Hand dishwash | 34.39% | 68.2% | 66.7% | 1.32 |
| Bathroom | Floor mopping | 24.66% | 33.1% | 89.3% | 1.20 |
Base: 442. Floor-mopper base implied about 122. Identical 87.7% implies the same group does all three. Source: p. 13.
Standalone tasks
Tasks done alone, n=442
| Response | Standalone share |
|---|---|
| Bathroom | 29.9% |
| Hand dishwash | 11.3% |
| Kitchen slabs | 9% |
| Floor mopping | 1.6% |
What to do next.
Four priorities weighted to the tensions the data exposes.
Win back men
Vim at 31.6% among men vs 44.4% among women; test format-led liquid and value-framed creative against the 34.5% male share of Pril plus Patanjali.
Premiumise dish around sensory
66.3% prioritise fragrance and skin-feel vs 24.4% grease; test fragrance and skin-care claims as primary, grease as proof.
Convert passives, not triallists
Domex 44.3% at 4 and Cif 33.0% at 4 (bases n=442); test emotional and distinctiveness creative to move 4s to 5s.
Bundle floor plus dish, enter via bathroom
87.7% floor-to-dish co-occurrence for bundles; 29.9% standalone bathroom for specialised entry.
Recommendations synthesised from report pp. 2-3, 5-16.
