The Mercadona cleaner that drives the Portuguese crazy (they buy 1,700 a day)
It leaves clothes smelling like baby cologne, is hypoallergenic and costs just over €1.20 a litre. It’s a huge sales success.
Mercadona debuted in our country in 2019, with a supermarket in Canidelo, in Vila Nova de Gaia. Since then, the Spanish chain has opened 39 stores nationwide and plans to open ten more by the end of 2023.
The Spanish retailer’s fame owes much to word of mouth praising the products that has led many Portuguese to make a kind of pilgrimage to the nearest store (which can be tens of kilometers away). Surprisingly, one of these best sellers is a liquid laundry detergent. Colónia, as it’s called, is launching at the end of 2022 in Portugal.
The three-liter package costs €3.70 – that is, it costs just over €1.20 per liter – and contains 46 doses. The madness is that Portuguese customers buy more than 1,700 packages a day. After all, more than 43 thousand have already been sold in our country in January alone.
The cleanser “has a fresh scent,” “like baby cologne,” hence the name of the product. It is also hypoallergenic and suitable for all skin types, including sensitive or delicate skin. Plus, “it’s effective in combating the toughest stains and enhances the whiteness of fabrics,” the brand guarantees.
“Colónia has always been at Mercadona in Spain, but with our co-creation model we realized two things: on the one hand, it needed to be brought to Portugal, and on the other hand, it was also necessary to improve the quality of the detergent, and to increase the intensity of the fragrance,” says NiT. Claudia Pereira, responsible for Mercadona’s Home Care Products category.
The product – which is marketed under the same name in both countries – is manufactured by a supplier in Badajoz, the Inquiba group, and then distributed to all chain stores, those responsible for Mercadona reveal. Incidentally, Cologne detergent is also a bestseller in Spain.
Click through the gallery and find out about other products of this type that are best sold in Mercadona stores in Portugal.
See the gallery
Talcum balm (1.90 euros).
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