Wilkos is a family business that started as a single hardware store back in 1930. Their mission has remained true for 90 years: to make the lives of families easier by providing them with simple, affordable and reliable ways to help them get their home and garden jobs done. They call them “little wins”.
Today, Wilko is an omnichannel retailer with over 400 stores and online presence. Daily cleaning of the washroom and shop floor areas of their stores is carried out periodically by cleaners and shop staff.
In 2021, Wilko began looking for a new cleaning supply range. They wanted to move away from traditional chemical technology and towards an eco-friendly, sustainable range which could help them achieve better results whilst reducing their environmental impact.
Objectives
- Improve Wilko environmental profile by reducing Co2e, plastic waste, hazardous material and transportation weight.
- Reduce the number of SKUS.
- Improve the cleanliness and odour control within their stores.
- Improve operational efficiency by reducing cleaning time.
- Reduce overall spend.
Data-driven insight
BioHygiene carried out a yield analysis to provide Wilko with data-driven insight into the cost and environmental savings they could make by switching suppliers. This process includes comparing the volume and dilution rates of their current product range compared to BioHygiene concentrates.
The results showed that BioHygiene could help Wilko could reduce carbon emissions by 95%, plastic waste by 70% and overall costs by 74%.
Introducing a new Biotech Cleaning Range
BioHygiene suggested a streamlined range to Wilko including the following products:
BioHygiene Foaming Hand Sanitiser
BioHygiene’s Foaming Hand Sanitiser is a high-performing sanitiser is made from a powerful organic acid, Lactic Acid. The carbon-neutral formula kills 99.999% of germs in just 30 seconds, without the use of environmentally damaging QAC’s or alcohol.
Wilko’s core values are based around respect and care for people. They often felt that Muslim customers were reluctant to use hand sanitisers due to the possible religious and cultural practices. BioHygiene Foam Hand Sanitiser is Halal certified, a welcome reassurance for Wilko as they strive to ensure diversity and acceptance across every inch of their business.
The highly concentrated formula combined with foaming action enables more use per product than traditional gels or liquid. Furthermore, BioHygiene were able to provide to provide a Pelican Pump that would dispense 0.8ml of foam compared to the 4ml of the liquid currently used. The decrease in product volume enabled BioHygiene to reduce Wilko’s spend in hand sanitisation from £625,000 to £125,000 across the estate.
BioHygiene All Purpose Sanitiser
BioHygiene All Purpose Sanitiser utilises the same high-performing, powerful organic acid, Lactic Acid. The kind ingredients help prevent the spread of bacteria and viruses, without causing environmental damage or health risks to users.
Specialist biotechnology provides quad action clean that disinfects, deodorises, descales and deep cleans all types of surfaces throughout a retail store. The powerful no-rinse formula kills 99.999% of germs in just 15 seconds and is approved to EN14476, EN13697, EN1276, EN13623, and EN1650.
“There is no waste and it lasts longer than the last one”.
BioHygiene All Purpose Sanitiser works at a 1:100 dilution. 1 x 5L can of Sanitiser will make up 665 trigger spray bottles, enabling Wilko to get more out of each order. This means fewer delivers, and a reduction in CO2e and less plastic waste.
BioHygiene Complete Washroom Cleaner
Not all Bacteria is the same. Choosing the right bacterial strain for its intended use is crucial to achieving a high performing product. BioHygiene Washroom and Floor Cleaner is formulated with a range of professionally chosen bacteria strains that break down and “feed” on contaminants found in washroom environments, including body fat scale and uric acid.
The active bacteria create a “biofilm” which gets deep into porous surfaces and lay dormant until a food source is introduced. This process provides residual protection against new contaminants and bad odours, providing long-lasting cleanliness and odour control. Residual protection means a less cleaning time, achieving operational efficiency across all stores.
BioHygiene Complete Washroom Cleaner is PH neutral and safe for all washroom surfaces. It has a low aquatic toxicity profile and is readily biodegradable, making it infinitely safer
for both people and the planet.
Gum, Mark & Graffiti Remover
Gum, Mark and Graffiti Remover utilises an eco-friendly, non-flammable organic solvent to lift and remover unsightly marks to restore surfaces to their original state. The fast-acting formula tackles chewing gum, adhesives, tyre marks, scuff marks, permanent market, ink and graffiti in as little as 3 minutes.
Results
Wilko trialled BioHygiene products for two weeks before launching UK-wide.
Easy Removal of Long-Standing Adhesive Marks
Both Alton and Altrincham stores had black adhesive marks from social distancing tape. They were causing the store Manager and his colleagues concern and embarrassment as they were the first thing customer saw when entering the store. Both stores also suffered from scuff marks from the movement of displays, trolleys and cages.
After failing to remove the adhesive marks using the previous range, they applied BioHygiene Gum, Mark and Graffiti remover with great success
Fresher Smelling Washrooms
Staff felt that BioHygiene Complete Washroom Cleaner performed better than the previous range, particularly when it came to odour control. Store Manager Samantha commented:
“It’s a great product. The cleaning team members loved it because it’s so easy to use and smells fresh. A little goes a long way”
Staff were impressed at how small of an amount of BioHygiene All Purpose Sanitiser was required to achieve satisfactory disinfection in accordance with EN14476. Similarly, Store Manager, Mark, felt the 500ml bottle of BioHygiene Foam Hand Sanitiser had lasted a lot longer than other hand sanitisers of that volume.
BioHygiene Foam Hand Sanitiser was also positively received by staff and customer who complimented its nourishing feel and ease of application.
”The product moisturises and is the best hand sanitiser that I have used. I love the smell and would recommend to anyone”
Implementation
Following the compelling yield analysis and successful trial, Wilko adopted BioHygiene as their preferred supplier to all 413 sites nationally. BioHygiene Antibacterial Hand Foam Soap was added to complete the range, achieving a total saving of £20,000 on this line alone.
Peter Ormondroyd, Group Fixtures & Commercial Relationship Manager commented:
“From a retail aspect, our 415 stores are over the moon with the ordering process and availability of the new product range and it feels that we are finally giving our shop colleagues the 100% services that we should have been giving, rather than the sometimes hit and miss.
In terms of product performance, this is a marked improvements on the effectiveness of the cleaning and sanitising, especially during the heightened routines in stores at every customer touchpoint and there hasn’t been any negative feedback from team members or customers as a result of the change.
From a financial point of view, the fact the BioHygiene products are more effective means that we are using less in volume, which added to the lower unit costs cover our last range, is making a massive impact on the financial position and is a very positive outlook for the year end. The hero product of the moment is the 5L Foam Pump Hand Sanitiser that we now offer to all our customers at the store entrances and for our in store team members. It uses 5 times less volume that the previous pump dispenser, a reduction from 4ml to 0.8ml per pump.
Our commitment to Diversity and Inclusion and also our environmental policy, means that these cause are also benefiting from the change to BioHygiene as they are all nature and contain no alcohol, meaning we can satisfy a much wider audience.”
