Consumer power is on the march in Australia
The unrepentant voices of complaining Australian consumers are ringing loud and clear. The latest in…The unrepentant voices of complaining Australian consumers are ringing loud and clear. The latest instances have impacted on two of the country’s best-known brands, Glad Wrap and Nestle’s Allen’s Lollies.
Glad Wrap cuts through for consumer break-through
Glad Wrap has responded to a barrage of Australian customer complaints by deciding to reverse a decision which saw the brand change the position of the cutter on its packaging.
In late 2014 Glad Wrap, which is owned by Clorox Australia, introduced a series of alterations to its cling wrap including making a tighter seal, stronger packaging and adding in a easy start roll feature. The change which got the most attention however was the decision to move the cutter from the bottom of the packaging to inside the lid.
Customers were not happy complaining it was now significantly harder to tear off a piece of the cling wrap. Glad Wrap claimed the cutter position was changed after consumer research revealed safety concerns.
The brand received so many complaints once the new Glad Wrap started hitting shelves, Clorox Australia said it had not choice but to listen.
After several months of work, Clorox says that the old cutter is now available for purchase.
It has been estimated that reversal costs would have been in the hundreds of thousands in manufacturing alternation costs.
The industry standard in Canada and America for many years now has been that cutters are placed on the inside of the lid.
Allen’s Green Frogs and Spearmints
Headlines were made earlier this when it came to the media’s attention that Nestle’s Allens Lollies had not being making green frogs or spearmint lollies since 2014.
The lolly manufacturer say the brands products were doing well lately, but spearmint and green frogs were just not doing as well as other flavors.
Nestle say that green frogs were outselling red ones ten to one.
Many consumers however appear to be unhappy about the changes. After news broke consumers took to the Allen’s Lollies Facebook page with outrage that they will no longer be able to purchase these products.
Rumours have also started to circulate that Sherbies and Oddfellow mints will be the next to go but Nestle has denied this.
There has also been claims of size reduction in some of its products which Nestle addressed by saying Killer Pythons have been made smaller but statements that Red Skins had been reduced by a third were incorrect.
The discontinuation is not Allen’s first. Previously it has cut Violet Crumble Bags, Butter Mentol Kids and Jelly Tots.
Allen’s had it start in Melbourne in the 1890’s and is today considered one of Australia’s leading lolly manufacturers.