WD-40 Company is a global marketing company dedicated to creating positive lasting memories by developing and selling products that solve problems in workshops, factories and homes around the world.
The company sold only one product, WD-40 Multi-Use Product, a maintenance product, which acts as a lubricant, rust preventative, penetrant and moisture displacer. The company has evolved and expanded its product offerings through both research and development activities and through the acquisition o...
WD-40 Company is a global marketing company dedicated to creating positive lasting memories by developing and selling products that solve problems in workshops, factories and homes around the world.
The company sold only one product, WD-40 Multi-Use Product, a maintenance product, which acts as a lubricant, rust preventative, penetrant and moisture displacer. The company has evolved and expanded its product offerings through both research and development activities and through the acquisition of several brands worldwide. As a result, the company has built a family of brands and product lines that deliver high quality performance at a good value to the company’s end users.
The company markets and sells its products in more than 176 countries and territories worldwide primarily through hardware stores, automotive parts outlets, industrial distributors and suppliers, mass retail and home center stores, value retailers, grocery stores, online retailers, warehouse club stores, farm supply, sport retailers, and independent bike dealers. The company sells its products through a network of domestic and international mass retail, trade supply and consumer retailers, as well as through industrial distributors and suppliers.
The company’s sales come from two product groups – maintenance products and homecare and cleaning products. Maintenance products are sold worldwide in markets throughout North, Central and South America, Asia, Australia, Europe, India, the Middle East, and Africa. Homecare and cleaning products are sold primarily in North America, the United Kingdom (‘U.K.’) and Australia. The company is continuing to conduct a strategic review regarding the future of the company’s homecare and cleaning product portfolios in the Americas and EIMEA segments and is pursuing the sale of these portfolios in fiscal year 2025. This potential sale will allow the company to focus on the company’s core, higher-margin maintenance products that are included in the company’s strategic framework. The principal driver of the company’s sales growth is focused on the company’s maintenance products and making them available in more places, for more people, who will find more uses, more frequently.
The company’s future is guided by a long-term four-by-four strategic framework tied to the company’s purpose and the company’s values. There are two main elements of the company’s strategic framework.
The first element of the company’s four-by-four strategic framework, which the company refers to as its Must-Win Battles, focuses on increasing sales of the company’s maintenance products. The company’s Must-Win Battles include growing WD-40 Multi-Use Product sales through geographic expansion; growing sales and gross margin through the premiumization of WD-40 Multi-Use Product; growing the WD-40 Specialist product line through category leadership; and accelerating the company’s capabilities in building its brand digitally and maximizing the company’s global digital commerce presence.
The second element of the company’s four-by-four strategic framework, which the company refers to as its Strategic Enablers, focuses on operational excellence. The company’s Strategic Enablers include ensuring a people-first mindset; building a sustainable business for the future; achieving operational excellence in supply chain; and driving productivity via enhanced systems.
These make up the company’s four-by-four strategic framework and are where the company will continue to focus its time, talent and resources.
The company continues to be focused and committed to innovation and renovation of the company’s products. The company sees innovation and renovation as important factors to the long-term growth and sustainability of the company’s brands and product lines, and intends to continue to work on future products, product lines, product packaging, and product delivery systems, as well as promotional innovations and renovations to expand the company’s product portfolio, build a more sustainable future, and to help the company grows. The company is also focused on expanding its brands in existing markets with new product development. The company’s research and development team supports new product development and current product improvement for the company’s brands. The company’s research and development team has made impacts on most of its brands through the company’s innovation activities. Key innovations for the company’s products include, but are not limited to, WD-40 EZ-Reach Flexible Straw, WD-40 Smart Straw, WD-40 Trigger Pro, WD-40 Specialist, WD-40 Specialist Degreaser & Cleaner EZ-Pods, WD-40 Precision Pen, WD-40 BIKE, 3-IN-ONE RVcare and 3-IN-ONE Professional Garage Door Lube.
The company’s homecare and cleaning products in the Americas and EIMEA segments are considered harvest brands, which continue to provide positive returns but are becoming a smaller part of the business as sales of the maintenance products grow with the execution of the company’s four Must Win Battles within the company’s strategic framework. The company has continued to sell products within these brands but with a reduced level of marking investment over time. The company is continuing to conduct a strategic review regarding the future of the company’s homecare and cleaning product portfolios in the Americas and EIMEA segments to create opportunities for the company’s workforce to bring an even greater focus to the company’s higher margin maintenance products and are pursuing the sale of these portfolios in fiscal year 2025.
Products
Maintenance Products
Included in the company’s maintenance products are both multi-purpose maintenance products and specialty maintenance products. These maintenance products are sold worldwide and they provide end users with a variety of product and delivery system options.
The company’s signature product is WD-40 Multi-Use Product in the blue and yellow can with the little red top. It accounts for a significant majority of the company’s sales in the maintenance product category. The company has various products and product lines which the company sells under the WD-40 Brand:
WD-40 Multi-Use Product – The WD-40 Multi-Use Product is a market leader in many countries among multi-purpose maintenance products and is sold as an aerosol spray with various unique delivery systems, a non-aerosol trigger spray, a precision pen, and in liquid-bulk form through mass retail stores, hardware stores, automotive parts outlets, online retailers, warehouse club stores and industrial distributors and suppliers. The WD-40 Multi-Use Product is sold worldwide in North, Central and South America, Asia, Australia, Europe, India, the Middle East, and Africa. WD-40 Multi-Use Product has a wide variety of consumer uses in, for example, household, marine, automotive, construction, repair, sporting goods and gardening applications, in addition to numerous industrial applications.
WD-40 Specialist product line – WD-40 Specialist consists of a line of professional-grade specialty maintenance products that includes penetrants, degreasers, corrosion inhibitors, greases, lubricants and rust removers that are aimed at professionals and consumer enthusiasts. These products are also sold with various unique delivery systems. The WD-40 Specialist product line is sold primarily in the U.S. and many countries in Europe, as well as parts of Canada, Latin America, Australia and Asia. Within the WD-40 Specialist product line, the company also sells bike-specific products across all its segments, motorbike-specific products in Europe and Asia, lawn and garden specific products in Australia, and automotive specific products in Asia.
The company also has the following additional brands which are included within the company’s maintenance products group:
3-IN-ONE – The 3-IN-ONE brand consists of multi-purpose drip oil, specialty drip oils, and specialty aerosol maintenance products. The multi-purpose drip and specialty oil lubricant feature the Marksman Spout to deliver precise application to small mechanisms and assemblies, tool maintenance and threads on screws and bolts. 3-IN-ONE Oil is the market share leader among drip oils in many countries. It also has wide industrial applications in such areas as locksmithing, HVAC, marine, farming and construction. In addition to the drip oil line of products, the 3-IN-ONE brand also includes professional-grade aerosol specialty maintenance products, such as 3-IN-ONE RVcare products, 3-IN-ONE Garage Door Lubricant and 3-IN-ONE Lock Dry Lube. The long legacy, brand awareness and high quality of the 3-IN-ONE brand and its established distribution network have enabled these products to gain international acceptance. 3-IN-ONE products are sold primarily in the U.S., Europe, Canada, Latin America and Australia.
GT85 – The GT85 brand is a multi-purpose bike maintenance product line that consists of professional spray maintenance products and lubricants which are sold primarily in the bike market through the automotive and industrial channels in the U.K.
Homecare and Cleaning Products
The company sells its homecare and cleaning products in certain locations worldwide and they include a portfolio of well-known brands. The company is pursuing the sale of these portfolios in the Americas and EIMEA segments in fiscal year 2025. Certain of the company’s homecare and cleaning product brands will continue to be held for use due to their significance to the business within certain regional markets in the Asia-Pacific segment.
The company is actively pursuing the sale in fiscal year 2025 of the following homecare and cleaning product brands in the Americas and EIMEA segments:
2000 Flushes – The 2000 Flushes brand is a line of long-lasting automatic toilet bowl cleaners. It includes a variety of formulas, including the Bleach and Blue plus Bleach that has a unique EPA-approved ‘kills bacteria’ claim. 2000 Flushes is sold primarily in the U.S. and Canada through grocery and mass retail channels, as well as through online retailers.
Spot Shot – The Spot Shot brand is sold as an aerosol and a liquid trigger carpet stain and odor eliminator. The brand includes Spot Shot Instant Carpet Stain & Odor Eliminator and the environmentally friendly product Spot Shot Pet Instant Carpet Stain & Odor Eliminator, which has a non-toxic and biodegradable formula. Spot Shot products are sold primarily through grocery, online retailers, warehouse club stores and hardware and home center stores in the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom.
Carpet Fresh/1001 – The Carpet Fresh and 1001 brands are a line of room and rug deodorizers sold as powder and aerosol quick-dry foam products. These products are sold primarily through grocery, mass, and value retail channels, as well as through online retailers in the United Kingdom. Although Carpet Fresh brand products are also sold in the U.S., they are sold by a third party under a licensing agreement. In the U.K., these products are sold under the 1001 brand name.
Lava – The Lava brand consists of heavy-duty hand cleaner products which are sold in bar soap and liquid form through hardware, grocery, industrial, automotive and mass retail channels, as well as through online retailers primarily in the United States.
X-14 – The X-14 brand is a line of quality automatic toilet bowl cleaners. Although X-14 brand products are also sold in the U.S., they are sold by a third party under a licensing agreement.
The company will continue to hold for use the following homecare and cleaning product brands in the Asia-Pacific segment:
no vac – The no vac brand includes a range of aerosol quick-dry foaming carpet and fabric sanitizers and deodorizers products, and spot stain cleaners. Products are sold through grocery, value, hardware and mass retail channels in Australia and New Zealand.
Solvol – The Solvol brand consists of heavy-duty hand cleaner products which are sold in bar soap and liquid form through hardware, grocery, industrial, automotive and mass retail channels, as well as through online retailers in Australia.
Manufacturing
The company outsources its finished goods manufacturing directly or through the company’s marketing distributors to various third-party manufacturers. The company or its marketing distributors use contract manufacturers in the U.S., Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, the U.K., Italy, Poland, Australia, China, South Korea and India. The company also formulates and manufactures concentrate used in its WD-40 products at certain of the company’s own facilities and at third-party contract manufacturers.
Trademarks and Patents
The WD-40 brand, 3-IN-ONE, Lava, Solvol, X-14, 2000 Flushes, Carpet Fresh and no vac, Spot Shot, GT85, and 1001 trademarks are registered or have pending registrations in various countries throughout the world.
WD-40 Company, the WD-40 logo, WD-40 Multi-Use Product, WD-40 Specialist, WD-40 BIKE, 3-IN-ONE, GT85, 2000 Flushes, no vac, 1001, Spot Shot, Lava, Solvol, X-14, and Carpet Fresh and other trademarks or service marks are the property of the company or its subsidiaries.
Research and Development
The company’s research and development costs were $8.0 million for the year ended August 31, 2024.
History
WD-40 Company was founded in 1953. The company was incorporated in 1999.