Marketing Fundamentals: Unilever Plc Case Study

This report discusses marketing fundamentals and how Unilever Plc uses marketing to build its brand image. It explains the marketing process, STP approach, and marketing mix. It also includes a PESTLE analysis and Porter's Five Forces analysis of Unilever Plc.

Marketing fundamentals

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................1
Marketing...................................................................................................................................1
Marketing process:....................................................................................................................1
STP:.............................................................................................................................................8
Marketing mix:..........................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION:.......................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is the basic element of business management and is a process of performing
the activities within the market in respect to promote buying and selling of goods and services
for capturing target-base. The process assists in management of the business by creating a
workflow of goods and services starting from its production and ending with satisfying customer
needs. Fundamentals of marketing includes the process by which an individual or an organisation
obtains what they need and want through creating as well as exchanging the products and
services with others. Each company has marketing as its management process and Unilever Plc
is one of them which use marketing process to build up its brand image in the market. This
company is situated in London incorporated in the year 1929 and is a multinational company that
deals in wide range of products related to food, home care, health care, beauty products and
many more. Within present portfolio, marketing process is going to be explained in which it
includes situational analysis, objectives, strategy and many more. Along with it, some
frameworks and models are also going to be explained in this report. Furthermore, the model of
STP will be discussed and at last, marketing mix will be described in relation to the organisation.
MAIN BODY
Marketing
It refers to the activities, processes and set of institutions that are used for the purpose of
creating, delivering, communicating and exchanging the products and services of the company
that have value for customer-base. The process helps an organisation in boosting its sale and
helps in building brand value for the organisation. Unilever Plc uses the process of marketing as
this process helps the organisation in increasing the volume of sales operations and it also
facilitates the company in enhancing the level of productivity as well as profitability within the
business.
Marketing process:
The process of marketing includes a series of steps that allow an organisation in
identifying the problems of customer-base, analysing market opportunities as well as creating the
marketing materials for reaching out top the potential customers. Unilever Plc is using this
process because it helps the company in developing its brand value by knowing the perceptions
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of the customers. There are certain stages in the process of marketing that are described as under
in context to Unilever Plc:
Executive summary:
This plan will help Unilever to bring new product range and promote those products with
the help of social media platforms. As Unilever is a consumer goods company, the brand will be
bringing new range of fruit flavoured yogurt which will be made with purity with more fruit
content and with less additives.
Situational analysis:
SWOT analysis of Unilever
STRENGTHS
 Global brand presence as the company is
operating in more than 190 countries (HU,
and QIAO, 2017).
 Diversified product range.
 Strong research and development
initiatives.
 Effective distribution channel.
 Effective CSR practices has been helpful in
strengthening position in global economy.
WEAKNESS
 Limited business diversification.
 Easily imitable products.
 Easy substitute availability.
OPPORTUNITIES
 Incline in demand for health-conscious
products.
 Incline in economies demands.
 Effective use of social media platforms for
promotions.
THREATS
 High competition.
 Incline in popularity of private labelling of
products.
 Limitation of products.
 Economic crisis.
Objectives:
 Unilever will bring new fruits flavoured yogurt which will be made of pure fruits and without
artificial essence. Through using fresh fruits in their new yogurt range, the company will
offer purity within their products range and will deliver fresh products to meet the demands
of health conscious and all group of customers.
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 The company will make use of social media platforms for sharing their content of their new
and existing product range which will be helpful in attracting customers. The company will
represent the difference between basic and fruit flavoured yogurt through which they can
attract customers and increase their sales by 15% within the time frame of 3 months.
Strategy:
STP Approach
Segmentation- This factor of the strategy focuses on classifying the target market on the
basis of different categories which supports in easily selecting the right target market which
needs to be focused by an organization.
Targeting- This factor of the STP strategy focuses on targeting the audience for the
selected products and service for meeting the desired organizational objectives.
Positioning- This is the last step of STP approach which focuses on positing the products
and services offered by the company in a manner which can be helpful in attracting customer
attention, geniting revenue and for targeting the selected segmented market (Marinchak, Forrest
and Hoanca, 2018).
Marketing Mix
Price- This factor of marketing strategy is used to define the pricing of the products
which has bene sued by an organization to sell their product.
Place- This factor of marketing strategy defines the place and distribution centres where
the product will be offered by an organization.
Product- This factor of marketing defines the product which is offered by the
organisation.
Promotion- This determinant of marketing strategy outlines the promotional tools and
strategies which has been used by the company to attract customers (Naseri and Noruzi, 2018).
People- This element of marketing strategy focuses on the people and human capital
which has been engaged, such as human resource, suppliers, stakeholders and consumers.
Physical evidence- This factor of marketing strategy outlines factors which can help
consumer differentiate the products on the basis of their label, colour or packaging and other
factors.
Process- This process refers to delivery of products and services to consumers.
Implementation:
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STP Approach
Segmentation- In context of Unilever, the company will be focusing on demographic,
geographic and psychographic segment of market for their new products range of fruit flavoured
yogurt (Selamoglu, 2021). Unilever will focus on men, women and children of all age and will
be offering their products at all geographical locations through which they can strengthen their
customer base by attracting greater number of customers.
Targeting- Unilever will be targeting their market by focusing on larger geographical
area where they will focus on people of all age and gender through which they can connect with
greater number of customers. Such larger target market will help the brand in maximizing their
revenues and generating higher profits.
Positioning- Unilever will position their products by promoting their purity of materials
which have been used for manufacturing the products and will share that no article essence has
been used through which the purity of products can be shared to customers for attracting their
attention. Unilever will sell their fruit flavoured yogurt at competitive process; this will be
helpful in promoting the affordable price range through which higher leads can be generated and
this will bring various profitability opportunities for business (Wang, 2021). The company will
also use hoarding and social media platforms for positing and promoting their new products
range to attract greater number of customers.
Marketing Mix
Price- Unilever will be using penetration pricing strategy for their flavoured yogurt
product rage through which they will offer high quality products to comparatively low prices for
attracting customers.
Place- As the company is operating in more than 190 countries, the company will
distribute their flavoured yogurt range to all stores with the help of their suppliers and retailers.
Product- Unilever have a wide product portfolio in which the brand offers various
consumer goods under different sub brands. The company will be offering new product range of
fresh fruit flavoured yogurt which will be helpful in diversifying the product range.
Promotion- Unilever will be making effective use of social media platforms and will
engage in attractive contents which will be posted through different social media handles through
which customer at larger geographical area can be attracted (Unilever marketing strategy, 2021).
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Unilever will also promote through traditional advertising by using newspaper, radio and
hoarding as mediums for promotions of their new product range.
People- Unilever will be operating with the help of sales, marketing and supplier team
through which they can understand customer demand and meet them in timely manner through
which organizational profitability ca be maximized.
Physical evidence- Unilever sells its products with different colour packaging which can
be easily identified among other brands. Unilever also operates through user friendly website
which allows customer to gain better insights of their products.
Process- Unilever will also offer their products through online delivery through which
they can meet the demands of customers in highly dynamic and digitalized business
environment. Unilever will also engage in effective research through which they can understand
the changing demands of consumers.
Control:
The key performance indicators which will be used by Unilever to evaluate the
effectiveness of their strategy are discussed below:
 Customer satisfaction rate- The customer satisfaction will be evaluated with the hep of
taking customer feedback related to the products and services offered by Unilever (KPI
for tracking, 2018). This strategy will be helpful in evaluating the effectiveness of the
plan and strategies which have been implemented by the organization.
 Evaluating reach and engagement rate- As Unilever will also be promoting their
product range through social media platforms, the progress and success can be evaluated
with the help of analysing and identifying the reach rate and customer engagement on the
content and post which have been shared by the brand on their social media pages.
PESTLE Analysis and Porter's Five forces in context to Unilever Plc:
Pestle Analysis is a framework that is used to analyse the macro environmental factors
that impacts the performance of an industry. This model is used by Unilever Plc to analyse the
influence of external environmental factors. The pestle analysis of the respective organisation is
explained as below:
Political factors: UK has stable political system and therefore, it gives favourable condition to
Unilever and other multinational companies for conducting business operations in an effective
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manner as well as without any restrictions. There are so many political issues that companies of
UK face while conducting their business operations and one of them is COVID-19. UK
government has made guidelines regarding social distancing, sanitizing that impact business
operations of Unilever. Company has to follow lockdown policy of government and because of
which sales of organisation got declined and affects the functioning of company in an adverse
way.
Economic factors: These factors include economic stability, inflation, taxation rates,
employment rate and many more. Unilever Plc is operated in UK where the economy is market-
oriented and stable. The organisation has brand value in its country and has a large number of
potential customers. However, due to pandemic situation of COVID-19, the economic lockdown
affects the business operations of the company in a negative way because at that time, sales of
the organisation got reduced. Because of this, the profitability level of company also got
hampered and brings negative impact on the brand value of organisation.
Social factors: It involves health consciousness, population growth rates, literacy rates, taste and
preferences of consumers and many more. Because of COVID-19, customer-base is more
concerned about their health. Increasing preferences towards health consciousness brings
favourable opportunities for Unilever Plc as the company is providing products related to health
care. It positively impacts the business operations of the company and also helps the organisation
in increasing the profit margins through increasing sale of health care products.
Technological factors: This factor is associated with the changes in technology, advancements
and innovations in technology, etc. In context to Unilever Plc, technological factors are
considered as one of the most significant factor that influence the business of the company. In
stiff competition of the market and with the help of highly updated and latest technologies, the
respective organisation can gain competitive advantages over the competitors such as Proctor &
Gamble in the market. This is so because modern technology enables proper utilisation of
resources and also facilitates in providing products at reasonable price to the target-base. It
positively impacts the performance of Unilever Plc and builds brand value in the market-place.
Legal factors: These factors are concerned with jurisdictional laws and legislations and involves
employment laws, health and safety laws, consumer rights law, various patent laws and many
more. Due to the pandemic situation of COVID-19, government of UK has made certain changes
in the laws and legislations of business. By adhering those laws and legislations, Unilever Plc is
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working in an ethical environment and is concerned about the health and safety of the
employees. It brings positive impact on the company and also facilitates it in building its
reputation in the market-place.
Environmental factors: This factor is connected to perform those activities that are favourable
for natural environment. Unilever Plc is regarded as the environment friendly company because
of their environmental activities. Corporate social responsibility is not compulsory in UK but the
respective organisation conduct many environment in their CSR activities.
Porter's Five Forces: This model identifies and analyses industry's structure which aids
organisation in determining of its corporate strategy. This model can be applied by company in
order to understand the level of competition in the market assists in enhancing long term
profitability of business. Application of this model assists company in deciding competitive
intensity and market attractiveness in industry. Market analysts of Unilever has applied this
model to their business operations to understand and identify the rivalry between its competitors.
All the forces of Porter's model in relation to Unilever are discussed below: Competitive Rivalry- This refers to a number of competitors and their capability to
compete in the marketplace. Unilever faces competition from many other companies in
consumer goods industry such as Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson etc. It faces cut-
throat competition from high number of firms as it has low switching cost of brand. In
corona pandemic, many large firms faces hug loses and has to cut down their operations
leads to less competition in market. Large number of companies offering similar products
and services come up with a high competition for Unilever. Threat of new entrants- It can be termed as entry of new competition in the market. Low
switching cost enables new entrants to enter into market and compete with established
brands. For instance, consumers can easily switch to new innovative products offered by
new players in market. Unilever has high operational effectiveness which is typically lack
in new entrants. In corona pandemic, many new and small firms had to close their
operations. Hence, Unilever faces low threat of new market players in industry. Bargaining power of supplier- This aspect includes size and strength of supplier and cost
incurred by company in switching. There are large number of suppliers in consumer gods
industry who provides raw materials to Unilever and like companies. At the time of
global lockdown, suppliers were not in the position of supplying goods in full swing
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which have high bargaining power for Unilever. It also affected other competitive firms.
Unilever is facing moderate force in bargaining power of suppliers and it incurs low
switching cost of suppliers. Bargaining power of customers- This force includes number of buyers in market and
importance of individual customer to the company. It is very easy for buyers to transfer
from Unilever's products to other rival brand as they have very low switching cost. In
times of global lockdown, buyers have high bargaining power as they want products that
are useful to them instead of taking care of brand.
 Threat of Substitutes- When close substitutes of different products are available in
market, it increases the chances of consumers to switch their brand in response to price
increases. There are many companies in consumer goods industry providing similar and
substitute goods in market. People do not want to use substitute in normal times but in
global pandemic, when Unilever and like companies have come up with new innovative
products, there is high threat of substitution.
STP:
STP is a three phase model which helps in finding market segments to target its customer
base for selling products in a way that it can build an image of company. Organisations use this
marketing model to classify propositions with evolving and serving important information to
capture a large number of audiences. The STP model is an effective marketing framework under
which Unilever chooses most desirable segment of the market and focus on the particular
segment to positioned its products. The brief discussion related to STP of Unilever's is given
below:
Segmentation:
It is defined as a process which is used to divide the market into segments of identifiable
and distinct group of customers for determining significance of each market segment.
Segmentation is related to those process of marketing frame work where the organisation divides
the whole market into smaller segment and these division are done one the basis of class, gender,
demographic and income of buyers. Unilever divides the total number of consumer in small
sections to target the individual segment for their product Dove. Under this segmentation,
Unilever develops segments on the basis of gender and income of buyers.
Targeting:
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A process in which attractive segments are selected from the stage of segmentation is
termed as targeting. It is related to those process of marketing framework under which the
business organisation select the most desirable segment to target their product. Under this
process organisation analyse all the segments and compare with their product and the most
desirable segment will be chosen. Unilever focus on both the segments and then decide to target
the segment females for their product Dove.
Positioning:
The last phase of STP model which concentrates on the analysis of comparison between
company's and competitor's product is defined as Positioning. It is related to those process under
which business organisation set the image of their brand on the mind of their segmented buyers.
To perform this task effectively, organisations uses many methods of advertising to promote
their products in niche market. Unilever preforms many advertising techniques such as sales
promotion, direct marketing and television marketing. These advertising makes the image of
brand superior in minds of customer.
Marketing mix:
Marketing mix is an essential marketing strategy that is used by the business
organisations in promoting the products as well as services to reach out to the customer-base.
This marketing strategy is conduct on the basis of seven elements of marketing mix such as
product, price, place, promotion, people, process and physical evidence. The marketing mix of
Unilever Plc is described as follows:
 Product: A product is anything that can be offered to market for gaining attention,
acquisition and consumption that might satisfy a want or need of customer. Unilever has
a wide variety of its products which are classified as per seasons and festive occasions.
Products of the company are air purifiers, toothpaste, coffee, ice-cream, tea, condiments,
minerals and supplements, cleaning agent, personal care products, water, beauty
products. The company has made a huge impact in industry and continues to grow at a
rapid rate.
 Price: The amount of money charged for a product or service that consumers exchange
for benefits of having or using it is known as Price. It is the most flexible element of
marketing mix as it is dynamic in nature which means it can varied because of
environmental influences. Unilever Plc uses Penetration pricing strategy to price its
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products in which products of the company are priced at lower cost during its initial
offering to capture more customer-base.
 Place: It refers to channels of distribution or path through which products are moved
from manufacturer to consumer. Goods often move through one or more intermediaries
along this path like wholesaler, retailer, agent, consumer. Unilever Plc operates in around
190 countries. The products of Unilever are available in supermarkets, hypermarkets,
wholesales, cash and carry, small convenience stores and e-commerce sites.
 Promotion: It refers to several tools used by company to create, maintain and increase
the demand for products and services. It focuses on creating awareness and persuading
customers to buy products by advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public
relation and direct marketing. Promotion strategy is done through television, print media,
online and many other ways. Unilever has a lot of ways for promoting its products both
in online and offline. Online promotion of product is done by television, social media as
well as gives many ways to demonstrate and build expertise to establish relationships
more effectively. Offline promotion is done by print media, direct sale with huge
benefits such as products are easily-ordered and received at short notice as well as
customers can get the product exactly what they need.
 People: It refers to company's staff who are at forefront when interacting with customers,
taking and processing their enquires. They interact with their customers throughout their
journey and become the face of company for customers. In Unilever, there are
approximately 149,000 employees contributing product-line. People of company
identifies and arrange the elements of marketing mix so that profitable marketing
decisions can be made at every level.
 Process: It refers to flow of activities that take place when there is an interaction between
customers and businesses. Every company wants to create a smooth, efficient and
customer-friendly journey in marketing its products and this can't be achieved without the
right process. There are different types of process like Technological process, Direct
activities, Indirect activities, etc. Unilever is using inventory management process to
trach the inventory within the organisation.
 Physical evidence: It is everything that every customer see when interacting with
company or business and it includes physical environment where company provides
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product, layout or interior design, company's product packaging as well as branding.
Unilever keeps a record of all experiences which it is getting by physical questioning,
buying behaviour of customers and providing them guidelines related to products they are
purchasing by giving them brochures or pamphlets.
CONCLUSION:
From the above explanation of the report, it is interpreted that this portfolio successfully
portrays the fundamentals of marketing within the respected company. Marketing fundamentals
plays an important role in achieving the objectives of the organisation in an effective manner.
Within this existing report, marketing process, external environmental analysis along with
competitive analysis has been explained in this report. Marketing process within the present
report has involved the objectives, strategies, SWOT analysis, implementation and control. This
assignment of marketing fundamentals also states the explanation about STP model.
Furthermore, marketing mix of the organisation has been conducted in this portfolio to meet the
goals of the company in an effective as well as efficient way. These fundamentals of marketing
helps the company in building its brand value in the market and also facilitates in increasing the
volume of sales.
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REFERENCES
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Level Faculty and Policymakers. Routledge.
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