Exploring consumer behaviour in automatic dishwashing: a quantitative investigation of appliance usage in six European countries

Abstract Automatic dishwashing has been optimised in manifold ways during the last decades: new dishwashing devices (e.g. optimised for best class in energy labelling) and innovative dishwashing detergents (e.g. with advanced enzyme technologies). However, the usage of the automatic dishwasher in consumers’ home may not be adequate to gain all the benefits from these developments. Little is known about the actual consumer behaviour with automatic dishwashing. This was tried to solve by performing a survey on the consumer behaviour on automatic dishwashing in Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland, Hungary and Turkey covering large parts of Europe. The results show that the ‘eco’-programme is getting more importance in programme selection. However, feedback on the soil level of the dish items put into this programme and the observed duration of the programme show that the potential of the ‘eco’-programme is not fully utilised by consumers. Besides this, the survey delivers relevant details on differences which may help to understand the needs and wishes of consumers in those countries.