Cleaning up with economic growth

Abstract

The economy of nearly every country in the world is growing, and many people finally have discretionary cash to spend. Some is being plunked down on durable goods like cars, air conditioners, and cell phones. Some is devoted to upgrading daily consumables like food and internet services. At the American Cleaning Institute’s recent annual conference, the focus was on what economic growth means for makers of laundry detergents and other cleaning products. At the same time, executives were trying to parse the shopping habits—increasingly developing online—of the millennials who are now taking over from the baby boom generation. ACI is a trade organization whose members include cleaning product makers and the chemical companies that supply them with raw materials. The annual meeting, held in Orlando late last month, drew 1,000 senior executives whose back-to-back meetings seemed to keep them from ever enjoying the Florida sunshine. Taking a break from customer