What workforce trends is the industry experiencing?

The household and personal products industry relies heavily on innovation as well as cheap manufacturing to keep companies competitive. As a result, a good portion of the industries will invest in Research & Development as a major part of their annual spending. Innovation becomes a critical part of household and personal products industry, largely because research is not something that is allotted within one year. Research can take anywhere from five to fifteen years. As a result, companies need to constantly be investing and evaluating projects throughout the years while maintaining spending. Innovation also becomes a way to keep developed markets growing.

The emphasis on research and development is most evident in companies annual reports as well as in their letters to stockholders. For example, just looking at P&G, in the notes of their annual report, they mentioned spending approximately $2 billion on research and development alone. In their annual letter to stockholders, they emphasized the fact that they spend close to 60% more than their competitors on research and development. The evidence of their constant dedication to innovation is clear in their constant need to create new products. Just recently, their new Tide Pods line of detergent was launched after eight years of development. In addition to that, in 2008, four of the top ten new consumer products were launched by P&G. By constantly trying to stay ahead of the competition, they lose the risk of becoming irrelevant, which means greater profits in the long run. It also keeps their brand names in the spotlight, which is important for a large industry such as household and personal products.
On the cosmetics side of the industry, L'Oreal also puts huge emphasis on the need for innovation and creation. In their 2011 annual report, they announced a total 613 new patents since 2010. They also reported investing approximately €721 million ($961 million) in research. What makes L'Oreal innovation unique is the fact that even though their main selling point is cosmetics, they make innovations in the field of science as well. The 2011 report discussed the discovery of the LR2412 molecule, which helps prevent aging. This then become a selling point when the products containing this molecule hit the market because it's something only L'Oreal can claim to have. They have 17 patents regarding this discovery alone, leaving other companies in the dust.