Marketing Management in Unilever

This report discusses various aspects of marketing management in Unilever, including industry background, company background, current position, unique selling proposition, market audit, and more.

Marketing Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
1. Industry Background................................................................................................................1
2. Company Background ............................................................................................................1
3. Current Position of the company.............................................................................................2
4. Unique Selling Proposition (USP)...........................................................................................3
5. Market Audit ...........................................................................................................................4
6. Potential Market Growth..........................................................................................................7
7. 4 P's Model...............................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

Executive Summary
This report included discussion over marketing management and its related aspects in
Unilever company. Firstly, its background and industries in which Unilever operates their
background were explained. Unilever is a consumer goods company which operates in Beauty
and Personal care industry, Food and Beverages industry and Home Care industry. This report
included positioning of Unilever and what strategies companies including Unilever can use for
positioning and strategies that Unilever has used for positioning have also been included and
discussed in this report. USP of Unilever and strategies to create USP and its benefit have also
been discussed in this report.

INTRODUCTION
Marketing Management involves identification of opportunities in market and come out
with strategies and planning to use these opportunities for profitability. Marketing Management
can also be explained as management that facilitates activities and functions that are involved in
goods and service distribution. This report includes and discuss various aspects of marketing
management in context of Unilever. Unilever company which deals in various products in
various industries like Beauty and Personal Care, Cleaning products and food and refreshments.
Over 400 brands are owned by Unilever in these industries. Products of Unilever are available in
around 190 countries. To discuss the company and its marketing operations this report includes
discussion over present marketing condition of the company with brief detail of its industry and
what the unique selling proposition of the company that have enabled it to grow to such extent.
Later this report discusses internal and external environment analysis of the company. Unilever
which intends to launch its new product which is Organic Lipstick which have been introduced
in this report.
MAIN BODY
1. Industry Background
Consumer goods industry is made up of companies that related to items that are
purchased by household and individuals rather than by manufacturers and industries. These
industries produce and distribute products which are intended to use directly by consumer.
Companies that are involved on this industry are food production companies, clothing,
beverages, packaged goods and electronic and auto-mobiles. Consumer goods that can be
categorized in durable which do not need to purchased frequently and non-durable, which need
to be purchased frequently. This industry focuses to provide something new and innovative to
the consumers which are useful to them at affordable prices.
2. Company Background
Unilever is 90year old consumer goods company founded in 1929 and headquartered at
Unilever House, London, UK and co-headquartered at Rotterdam, Netherlands. Unilever
manufacture and distribute consumer goods and sectors in consumer goods industries in which
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Unilever operates are Beauty and personal Care, food and beverages and home care
products. (Murphy and Murphy, 2018).
These three sectors in consumer goods industry are served by Unilever in around 190
countries. These are managed and operated with help of 155000 employees of Unilever. All the
products of consumer goods industry have been developed by Unilever after adequate research.
This research aims to work on its objectives which states to make sustainable living
commonplace which company thinks is the best way to their business in long term and Mission
of the company is to add vitality to life (Melton, Damron and Vernon, 2017). They state in their
statement to meet every day needs for nutrition, hygiene and personal care with brands that make
people feel good, look good and get more out of life.
3. Current Position of the company
Market Positioning of the company refers to ability to influence perception of consumers.
Main objective behind market positioning of a brand is to create a unique identity of a brand.
Unilever's success clearly shows its positioning and company have effectively managed to
influence perception of its consumers in various countries by fulfilling their unique needs
through providing 400 brands in various aspects of living. Presently Unilever is known to be 4th
largest company in terms of sales. Unilever's products in beauty and Personal Care are at top 3rd
position in the world. There are various reasons that are responsible for company being at this
position these reasons are-
 Innovation of the company
 Responsible behaviour and attitude of the company.
Both these reasons have led Unilever to this success and have managed to sustain its success.
Positioning Strategies that have been used by Unilever to position itself in UK are-
Positioning by Product Attributes and Benefits-
Unilever focus on attributes of its products and specific attributes of its products to
position itself in UK. (Andaleeb, 2016). Unilever shows that their products have the best quality
and are available at low price. This strategy of quality and price mix have been used by Unilever
to position itself in UK market.
Positioning by Price/Quality-
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Unilever have focused on its low price while positioning itself in UK market. Unilever
also claims to offer the best quality products.
Position from competitor perspective
P&G is strong competitor of Unilever and in terms of Competitive perspectives Unilever
have positioned itself at second position due to the market forces. Competitors of Unilever are
increasing enormously because they find scope in the consumer goods industry to generate huge
profit, but company stands on its position, as they attain stability in terms of competition in
market.
4. Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
USP of Unilever products are their Quality, their affordable price and their accessibility.
Quality is most important factor that attract customer towards a brand and in that context
Unilever have managed to compete strongly with its competitors and that is what make Unilever
a preference for consumers around the world. Other USP of Unilever is its affordable price this
aspect is very important as Unilever deals in consumer goods which are required to everyone and
it would be not possible for people to buy such products if they are priced high (Ohmae, 2016).
Unilever's other USP is its accessibility Unilever's products are available at almost all places and
people are likely to buy those products which are easily available at all the places and this is
what makes it different from its competitors.
Clear differentiation, Unilever's are products have good quality and are available at
reasonable price it differentiates it from those which have high quality and charge high price for
their product. This differentiates Unilever from other products.
5. Market Audit
Marketing audit refers to systematic analysis and interpretation of business environment
of both internal and external which aims at determining the opportunities and problems and
developing a plan to enhance the performance of the organization. Business environment is of
two types internal and external.
Internal Environment: It refers the factors within the business that affects its
functioning. It mainly includes employees and management. Employees are the essential factors
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because if employees are motivated, hard-working and satisfied then it will help in improving the
performance and also establishes good relationship within the organization. Management also
impacts the business environment. It mainly concerns with administrative and operational
procedures. Company has strong leadership technique in which they use servant leadership for
motivating the employees in the organisation. They organise time to time training and
development for their staff members to enhance their skills. This led them to increase their
efficiency and effectiveness towards work.
For example, fault in IT system will hamper the overall functioning of the organization
which may incur huge losses.
Micro environmental analysis: It refers to micro environmental factors which are
present within the organization over which company can exercise control. It mainly includes
competitors, suppliers, creditors and investors. Managing the supply chain is the focus of the
business as it helps in reduction of operation cost by optimum utilization of resources.
Competition has a huge impact on organization. If competitors are high, then it will reduce the
market share and overall organizational profits.
Usually, organizations use SWOT analysis framework for determining internal factors.
Strengths: The biggest strength of Unilever is global presence and highly qualified and
talented employees. Its research and development team is funded heavily to bring innovation. It's
team with creative mind is also its strength. Unilever has a well-structured distribution system
which is serving every corner of the globe. Based in this, Unilever can go ahead in its market
expansion by bringing lipstick, as there is huge potential in the market with well structure
Unilever distribution system.
Weaknesses: It refers to the factors that distract organization from achieving goals. The
biggest weakness of Unilever is that it operates in a market where market is very competitive
with other giants like P&G and also it has a tough competition from local players who are
challenging its dominance (David and David, 2016). Other weakness is availability of large
number of substitute products which diversifies its customers. Mostly in rural areas, people
substitute it with natural and traditional products. Availability of substitutes can be big threat for
its new lipstick product and customers are already having number of options for the same
product so it will be difficult to grow in that market.
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Opportunities: These are the external factors that an organization is likely to grab in
order to be successful. The emergence of developing economies has raised the living standard of
people which is a great opportunity for Unilever to place the right product to target the market.
Nowadays, consumers are more conscious about their health so Unilever can tap this market and
launch products specially for health conscious people. It can target consumers to like buy
products which are made responsibly and sustainably. The new lipstick product is organic and
environment friendly and will attract customers towards it because it is meeting the customers
demand and can even charge higher prices. So, there is full potential of growth.
Threats: These are the factors on which organization has no control but can take steps to
reduce its impact (Schooley Skye, 2019). Unilever is facing the threat of increasing cost and
diminishing revenue. It is also facing threat from small local start-ups who are providing more
value for less money. The increasing demand for CSR has made Unilever to take each and every
step carefully and if Unilever fails to do this then it may have to faces serious consequences
which will impact its brand value and customer trust.
EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT:
For macro environmental analysis, the most common used tool is PESTLE analysis. A detailed
description of this is stated below.
Political Factors: It refers to the country's political situation. Political stability in
countries where business operates is an opportunity for the company. It includes corruption,
foreign trade policy, labour law and other government rules and regulations. Political factors
have a direct impact on the profitability and growth of the organization. It's impact changes with
change in regime. Currently, Unilever is not facing any major political issue. This factor is
favourable to the Unilever and can take advantage of it by launching new lipstick products and is
having great potential for market growth.
Economic Factors: These factors pertain to the economic performance of the country. It
includes interest rate, inflation, unemployment rates etc. These factors will either have direct or
indirect impact which can be seen in long term (Scanning the Environment: PESTEL Analysis.
2016). These factors mostly affect the disposable income of consumers or purchasing power
which may result in fluctuations in demand and supply of the product and even pricing. Unilever
has to monitor this factor as this may result into modification in its marketing strategy. Currently,
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the economic performance of UK is good and Unilever can take the benefit of low cost of
financing and high disposable income for introducing lipstick in the market.
Social Factors: This factor deals with the demographic factors such as customs, beliefs,
age, gender, population, lifestyle, personality, health and safety etc. These factors are important
for marketing the product as per the market needs. The impact of social factors is not only
limited to operational aspect but also marketing. Unilever has to conduct a thorough market
research to meet with changing needs of customers and trends. Unilever is introducing new
lipstick product based on these social factors so it can be said that the market is attractive and has
good growth potential.
Technological Factors: This factor is related to the changing needs of technology and
innovation in it. These factors affect market either favourably or unfavourably. It is favourable if
organization adopts and implements it successfully or else it will be unfavourable. Technology
changes with a rapid pace so Unilever conducts regular analysis to know about the upcoming
trends and innovation to avoid any investment in technology that may disrupt after some time.
Unilever has used new technology system and digital platform to introduce its lipstick products
in the market, which will result in attracting more customers and growing its business.
Legal Factors: This factor is related to the specific laws that an organization is required
to follow in order to continue its operation in that country. This factor includes employment law,
trade law, discrimination law, consumer protection law etc. Unilever is clear on this part as it
knows what is legal and illegal in all the countries in which it operates (Perera, 2017). Unilever
has employed high qualified professional legal team to deal with its legal issues. It has complied
with all the laws related to health and safety of UK. As the product is purely organic, so it
motivates the consumers to buy it. Also, this follows the legal factors like they have used organic
substance which does not harm the skin of the consumers. No animals test, and no laws are break
of producing such product.
Environmental factors: This factor has become important because of increase in
scarcity of resources, carbon footprint set by the government and with the increase in
consciousness of the customers towards environment (SALIM, 2018). Every industry has
different standards for environment protection so Unilever has developed and implemented plans
which has helped in reducing waste and is using environment friendly products. Unilever has
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manufactured its products using organic and environmental friendly material which will attract
more customers towards it and helps in growing lipstick sales.
6. Potential Market Growth
Unilever is the second largest company which sells consumers goods in the market of
UK. They gains the brand value in the market and becomes stable. This is the trusted company
for the people as their products are qualitative and affordable for the people. But still they
possess potential for the development in the market. As they can open more branches and
improve their distribution systems. Also, their employees are efficient which leads to customer
satisfaction. This develops more demands in the market for their products. Unilever can expand
towards the uncovered part in the country. As they have dynamic capabilities and core
competencies which help them to potential growth in the market.
Ability of an organisation to increase its profit in future is known as potential market
growth. In business this depends upon leadership expectation of the company and what are
quantitative and qualitative measures that company have taken to expand. Potential can be
assessed from organisation planning movement to new markets (Ratcliffe, 2018). Unilever's
potential market growth in UK have chances of increasing as it is ready to launch its new
Organic Lipstick in market of UK. Addition in product line with something unimaginable have
been quality of Unilever which it is going to show by launching its new organic lipstick. With
launch of its new product Unilever will manage to increase its customers who are not using
lipsticks because of its chemical factor (Mathews and et.al., 2016).
7. 4 P's Model
New Product
Considering its strengths and opportunities Unilever has decided to launch a new product
and can be said as product line (Partanen, 2017). The new product launched by Unilever is
Organic lipstick. Details of this product are
 Name- NatuCare
 Key Ingredients- Natural and organic products.
 USP- Natural product at reasonable price.
 Price- Premium Price.
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 Customer- Above 5 years of age, who do not use chemical products.
 Target market for the organic lipstick is UK.
This product line has been developed by a due analysis and research of customer
requirements which suggest that customer presently are interested in using natural products
which do not contain chemicals in it. Analysing its 4P's
Marketing Mix of this Product is as follows-
Product- Organic Lipstick of Unilever which is made of natural products and research
and development team of Unilever has given special attention to its health factor considering
increasing concern of people for their health and their awareness about using products which
have chemical ingredients. This product has been developed after a lot of research and research
team have made it from products which does not affect and harm environment in any negative
and wrong manner (Thieu and et.al., 2017). Presently this lipstick is available in 10 variants and
Unilever has decided to increase number of its variants after knowing initial review and
perception of customers towards its products. This product has also been prepared and developed
in different size so that customers can purchase the product according to their capacity to spend
on a particular product (Tong, Luo and Xu, 2020). Customer group that have been targeted by
this product is females above age of 15 years.
Strength of the company are its visibility and reach to a wide customer group as
company operates in around 190 countries of the world. Other strength of the company is trust
and loyalty of its customers for its products. Considering this company have decided to launch a
new product in its product line of Beauty and Personal Care. This product of Unilever is made up
of natural ingredients and does not contain any chemicals in it.
Unilever has found that company have strong opportunities in Natural beauty and
personal care brands as many people are considering this as a better and quality replacement of
chemical products which are harsh on skin and specially not good in long run and natural
products do not have either of issues with it. Unilever have decided to provide the best quality
products to its customer at reasonable rate so that it can maintain its old customer base and also
target those who are interested in buying natural products (Tong, Luo and Xu, 2020). To
capitalize its strength and opportunities Unilever is launching new products. One additional
feature of this product is that this product can be used by everyone and suitable for all skin types
so that people will not face any medical problem by using these products.
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Price- Price in another important factor that contributes in marketing and sells of the
product. Price strategy of Unilever is diversified which offers various products at different price
(Kwon, Lee and Kim, 2018). Price of organic lipstick that is being launched by Unilever have
been decided to be sold at premium price. Strategy of the company behind this is that this
product which have made from organic ingredients have high cost of manufacturing and other
important consideration is that by selling product at premium price company will be able to
correspond high quality of the product. Price of organic Lipstick NatuCare have been decided to
be different according to size of the lipstick and on the basis of the variants price have been
differentiated. This is because customers of UK who cannot afford premium price of the product
will be able to buy this product in their affordable small size (Abidemi, BIN HALIM and
Alshuaibi, 2017). Which will keep all the customers of Unilever attached and loyal and will not
move to other products because of high price.
Place- Natucare organic Lipstick by Unilever have been planned to be sold through
specific retailers of UK to maintain its premium quality and brand image. Once this product
shows good sign of success this will be launched on online platforms (Saidani and Sudiarditha,
2019). Unilever's one of strengths which is its global reach will also be associated with this
product also to ensure that organic lipstick of the company also get benefit of its this strength and
ensures at all the places where company is facing tough competition visibility of this product is
increased through promotion. Place is an important aspect of success of any factor which in case
Unilever being its strength allows company to capitalize its strength.
Market place of the product have increased from the rise of E-Commerce websites.
Product of the company are available on most of all websites. NatuCare that is why will need to
be available at all these sites. Company need to ensure that its products are supplied on time
which does not create shortage of the product at any location which possess risk of losing
customers to competitors. Other than e-commerce websites important supplier of lipstick will be
retailers, Stores and Kiosk (Saidani and Sudiarditha, 2019). This can also be used by Unilever
that it can have healthy collaborations with retailers which have a great impact on sale of a
product.
Promotion- For Promotion of new product company have decided to link its reputation with
this new product and other strategy that will be employed by the company is that all the mediums
where company promotes its product will also be used for promotion of this new product.
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Special focus will be given to Social Media and Digital Media which are very effective mode of
increasing visibility of product in present time (Abdul-Hamid and et.al., 2017). Along with these
new age methods Unilever has also decided to promote this new product through traditional
mediums like print media and Television. The promotions of this product will be featuring
common people and will avoid featuring celebrities as common people are more likely to use
organic products which are good for health and more importantly avoid bad for health.
Promotion refers to methods which company uses to communicate about its products to its
target audience. Unilever uses most of all types of promotional platforms to promote its lipstick.
These platforms are social media and digital media in new age promotional strategy and TV and
Print Media in traditional platforms of promotion. Unilever is using these same strategies and
platform to promote its new product NatuCare. Promotional ads and campaign will be featuring
common people instead of any celebrity so that company can convey its message in real manner
by featuring those who use these products and show to people who are going to use these
products (Abdul-Hamid and et.al., 2017). This enables prospective customers to connect with
brand and product in a more real sense.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of above discussion, it can be concluded that Unilever which is 5th biggest
company for consumer goods in the world uses all marketing strategies very thoughtfully.
Effective use of strategies has enabled it to grow to such extent. Market positioning is different
of Unilever as it operates in more than one industry. Unilever Operates in beauty and personal
care, food and beverages and home care sector under consumer goods industry and have
managed to establish itself at top positions by offering more than 400 brands in various
industries. USP of Unilever is that its specifies its products quality and affordable price and its
reach to almost every location of the world. Strengths of the company is that it is accessible at
almost every location and its differentiate pricing policy and opportunities which are available
for company are increasing interest of people for using natural product. This has make company
add a new product in its product line and company considering its strengths and opportunities
company have decided to launch new organic lipstick named NatuCare which contains natural
and organic ingredients in the products and company wish to attract new customers those who
are already using other Natural products.
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