The Post-Pandemic Future Of Hand Sanitizer

Hand sanitizer manufacturers experienced a spike in sales during the pandemic. Now that pandemic behavior is declining, the question for them is: What will happen to the hand sanitizer habit? There’s a few reasons to believe that while hand sanitizer use won’t be as high as it has been in the last two years, the awareness of disease transmittal will create sanitizer habit retention post-pandemic.

A brand called Touchland was created ten years ago with the idea of making hand sanitizer convenient and pleasant to use with multiple fragrances and embedded skincare formulations. Since it’s U.S. launch in December 2018, awareness has skyrocketed and by the end of this year, Touchland will be available in 4000 stores, including Sephora, Ulta, Target
TGT
, Bloomingdale’s andNeiman-Marcus.

Another brand called Noshinku, also created pre-pandemic, is focused on sanitizer with skincare as a critical product component. Noshinku’s marketing is targeted on the travel market in order to expose consumers to the brand and motivate them to buy it on their own. The brand is offered to guests in Thompson Hotels (owned by Hyatt), Ace Hotels as well as the flagship Chanel store in London.

Noshinku products have no synthetic fragrances, are sold in refillable dispensers to minimize environmental impact and the company is initiating a subscription business very soon. Although Noshinku is small, it is profitable, which says there’s a high likelihood they are offering something consumers want.

The success and growth of both these brands demonstrates how consumers have changed even as pandemic-induced behavior diminishes. Andrea Lisbona, Founder and CEO of Touchland, explained that hand sanitizer adoption follows an established pattern of personal hygiene.

Following World War II, toothbrushing with commercially-created toothpaste became an accepted habit for consumers. In the last several years, the use of sunscreen on its own and as part of other skincare products, has exploded. Now, Lisbona says, hand sanitizer made for consumers without an industrial feel and smell, is experiencing widespread adoption.

Touchland’s latest product, a rejuvenating hand sanitizer, sold out at Sephora in under two weeks. Its latest collaboration with Disney demonstrates an ever-broadening audience for hand sanitizer and the opportunity to reach consumers at young ages as they develop personal hygiene habits.

The Future Of Hand Sanitizer

No one can say how much of the habits adapted to prevent disease transmission during a pre-vaccine pandemic period will endure. But the performance of these two brands demonstrates that some of the habits and awareness learned during that time will continue. Now it’s up to the brands to adapt the product to a post-pandemic world by including, as they are now doing, skincare, fragrance, ease-of-use characteristics and branding aspects in products that also address consumers’ sustainability concerns.

Most likely, you will continue to see hand sanitizer dispensers in public places, especially in luxury, high-touch, high-traffic locations like retail stores and hotel lobbies. As those dispensers remain a fixture in consumers’ lives, it’s likely that the use of hand sanitizers is going to become a permanent part of daily life for millions of people.