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Consumer Corner: Fungicide, Laundry Packs, Mobile Coupon Growth

Consumer Corner (Jan. 8-14th) ~ we’re going to try and make this a weekly Sunday night event by bringing quick recap of consumer related news that happened during the prior week. Hopefully you’ll find this useful. 

Fungicide - was a hot topic this weeks as both Pepsi and Coke-Cola admitted alerted the Food and Drug Administration after discovering that Brazilian growers had sprayed their oranges with a fungicide that is not approved for use in the U.S.  The FDA said the low-level chemicals did not pose a safety risk.  

Biggest Laundry Innovation in 25 years - (Ad Age)  A slew of ultra-concentrated detergent “packs” that are slated to hit stores in February are expected to ratchet up marketing outlays in the category by nearly $300 million.  Tide which appeared to have a first mover advantage delayed its program by six months last Sept. It now will face competition from laundry other laundry titans Church & Dwight, Henkel and Sun Products. 

Target (AP) - will test expanding its Apple offerings in 25 stores with bigger displays and focused sections.  It also announced, is teaming up with unique specialty shops to offer limited edition merchandise, from dog biscuits to platform shoes, as it tries to distinguish itself from rivals.

Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) — Confidence among U.S. consumers increased more than forecast in January, reaching its highest level in eight months on signs the labor market is improving.

Jan. 13 (Reuters) Redemption rates for mobile coupons are projected to rise to an average of 8% by 2016, an eightfold increase over rates for the most successful paper coupon campaigns, according to a new report from Juniper Research. The study projects that by 2016 there will be 600 million regular mobile coupon users worldwide, with total mobile coupon redemption values exceeding $43 billion, compared to $5 billion in 2011