Detergent and dishwasher in capsules, refillable containers and environmentally friendly chemical formulas. These are Flopp's main arguments for trying to gain a foothold in the market for ecological household cleaning products. With a staff of around twenty people, it has its facilities in Vic (Barcelona), where it was born in 2017 by the entrepreneur Elisabet Jordà. The company has been consolidating until at the beginning of 2022 it was reinvented by the company Proquimia and the brand accelerator Asellera, who joined forces to promote it. It worked. Both that year and in 2023, the company reached a turnover of one million euros, a figure that they hope to increase this year by 10%. Flopp began with its own formulas and a focus on sustainability. Not only through ingredients whose production avoids harming flora or fauna, but also with compostable and biodegradable packaging, as well as water-soluble capsules to reduce water use and waste by applying exact doses. Also with refillable bottles to avoid plastics. “Concentrated formats also mean that less space is taken up in transportation and that it emits less carbon dioxide,” emphasizes Ferrán Osete, one of the company's managers. Its range of household products, developed by its own team of chemists, includes laundry detergent, dishwasher, bathroom and kitchen cleaners and floor scrubbers. Complicated beginnings Getting to the market, however, has not been easy. In the beginning it was difficult to join the shelves of supermarkets, unaccustomed to this type of products. The agreements with Carrefour and Aldi began to pave the way. And today they have a well-established market in Catalonia, their closest territory, with Sorli, Bonpreu or Plusfresc as their main points of sale. Recently, Flopp has added alliances with Costco, Carrefour, Alcampo or Día to grow in the rest of the Iberian Peninsula. “We are looking for an economy of scale, with many points of sale, that allows us to maintain prices similar to those of conventional cleaning products,” says Osete, who believes that, in general, the consumer has not yet finished accepting new ones. formats such as capsules. “I think the message should come from the positive, not from punishment. Of course you can use products with plastic or chemicals that work for specific stains, but it is important to understand that every grain of sand, even if it means avoiding using a bottle, goes a long way,» he says, who highlights that promoting online sales is also another of his goals. objectives.Beyond Spain and Portugal, Flopp has made the leap to Latin America, entering Peru and Chile. They are working to do the same in Panama and Mexico while exploring the possibility of making the leap to Asia—to places like Japan and South Korea—and also to Poland or Belgium in northern Europe. “There they are more aware and there are already other brands that do it well and are strong competition. But the more ecological options there are, the better,» they insist from the Catalan firm, where they announce in the medium term that they also intend to renew the brand and look for new innovative and even more sustainable packaging to grow and improve their turnover, which in 2024 will exceed one million euros. .Follow all the information about Economy and Business on Facebook and xor in our weekly newsletter