Enjo Case Strategy

Case

3:

ENJO

Canada

Cleaning

A

strategy

to

expand

their

Canadian

market

presence

Background

In

1985,

entrepreneur

Freidrich

Engl

witnessed

an

oil

spill

on

Lake

Constance,

at

the

foot

of

the

Alps.

Seeing

that

the

cleanup

involved

harsh

chemicals

and

solvents,

he

developed

the

idea

of

using

mechanical

means

of

cleaning

to

avoid

the

use

of

dangerous

cleaning

agents

in

the

future.

After

five

years

of

research

and

development,

Freidrich

launched

a

“cleaning

system”

based

on

his

innovative

ENJOtex

fibre.

Since

the

company

was

founded

in

1990,

the

Austrian-­‐made

product

line

has

developed

and

expanded

to

include

microfibre

cloths

and

tools

tailored

for

chemical-­‐free,

water-­‐only

cleaning

of

different

rooms

in

a

home

and

for

specific

cleaning

tasks.

The

Market

Awareness

levels

and

concerns

about

chemical

exposure

in

our

homes

have

been

rising;

in

turn,

consumer,

government

and

media

demand

for

safe

and

eco-­‐friendly

products

is

increasing.

The

market

for

environmental

or

“green”

cleaning

products

is

growing

rapidly,

with

expectations

that

the

global

household

green

cleaning

products

market

will

reach

$9.32

billion

US

by

2017.1

New

entries

in

the

market

from

Clorox

and

other

conventional

cleaning

product

companies

reflect

the

opportunity

and

have

created

a

competitive

market.

According

to

the

TerraChoice

Greenwashing

Report,

“‘Greener’

product

offerings

had

grown

by

79%

between

2008

and

2009.

Green

markets

were

strong

and

growing.

That

trend

continues

in

2010.

At

the

two

dozen

stores

we

visited

both

in

2009

and

again

for

this

year’s

study

[in

Canada

and

the

U.S.],

“greener”

product

offerings

increased

by

a

total

of

73%,

from

2,739

products

in

2009

to

4,744

products

in

2010.”2

As

there

is

no

consensus

or...