Downloads Gone are the days when a splash of tepid water could be passed off as handwashing. With our anxiety levels heightened by the prospect of giant Covid fuzzballs hurtling towards us at every turn, scrubbing hands and homes has become a national pastime. So it’s unsurprising that sales of antibacterial hand sanitisers have soared more than 900%, catapulting the value of the category from less than £12m a year ago to £120.5m today [Nielsen 52 w/e 26 December 2020]. Hand wipe sales similarly rocketed 232% to £18.5m, according to Kantar, which also recorded sales of liquid soap (including hand sanitisers) more than doubling year on year to £338.1m [52 w/e 27 December 2020]. As Kantar analyst Tom Hole puts it: “It’s almost as if hygiene has experienced the same growth as tech giants and it’s easy to see why.” And in this environment, both new and established brands stand to clean up in the long term.