The story of Method cleaning products start up story is very much like some of the most successful company’s in the world. Adam Lowry and Eric Ryan are the owners of Method, two childhood friends that wanted to change how cleaning products were made. Adam wanted “dirty ingredients” (non-toxic) to not be used in cleaning products. While Eric was passionate about producing a cleaning product that doesn’t hide under the sink, a more attractive package/bottle. I don’t know when the story was posted but Eric and Adam have been working since 2000 on the product but they just opened a soap factory in Chicago in 2015.
Check out the full story here- http://methodhome.com/about-us/our-story/
This is the add promoted clean chemicals in your cleaning products!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzWiDZSPfRE
Although there are many different clean products Method is different because of the reasons that were stated above but are motivated to be known as a company that was created to support a healthier earth. For example, they are a founding B corporation which makes Method a social and environmental change a company objective. This separates Method’s cleaning products from others cleaning products even more. Method indeed exists entirely apart from other organizations.
While many cleaning products have made efforts to remove toxic ingredients from their products but what makes Method so innovative is there packaging. They created a cleaner looking bottle, that is more attractive. The example below is against Tide. In my opinion, the bottle of Method laundry detergent is more attractive and would be something my mom would leave out in the open while the tide is always tucked away in the cabinet. Walmart has this 50 FL OZ. bottle of Tide priced at $8.97 and on Method’s website has their 20 FL OZ. bottle priced at $14.99. Big difference right? However, the Method bottle requires 1/4th the dose of the leading brand (Tide). The bottle of Method says 50 loads per bottle and the Tide bottle says nothing about the number of loads per bottle. So, I googled it and I found that the Tide 50 FL OZ. has about 32 loads worth. Compared to one of the leading brands Method is cleaner, uses less content per load and the bottle is smaller but lasts longer.
The website had a blog section but the comments were closed so I went to amazon to read reviews because I felt that Amazon was probably the best place to find a variety of comments. On the “All Purpose Surface Cleaner Spray French Lavender (8 pack)” it had 1,030 customer reviews and there were 971 positive reviews and only 59 critical reviews. In the critical sections the main concerns are Method products couldn’t handle tough stains like other brands this could be because Method does not use toxic ingredients. Other issues were the smell wasn’t great and packaging and handling wasn’t great. The best review I found was from September on 2015 was from an obvious mother that said the product was great and the 8-pack lasted eight months although she “tends to double clean”. There were a few controversial reviews written about the company’s product but no one questioned their products cleanliness which is one of the company’s main purposes.
Lessons that startups companies could learn from Method is that you can break into any market, you must separate yourself by using passion and meaningful reason, like no toxic ingredients, to motivate yourself. Finding something that needs support, like a cleaner earth, and base that around your company is a great strategy because you quickly have a base target market. Further, people that support causes are more likely to share your product on social media, so more people can become informed on the issue. Companies should also follow method’s unique design from competitors.