Marketing Management Assignment | Unilever

Marketing management

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The report is present a marketing management of Unilever company which has the
consumer goods company. The company has provide the various product which has divided into
4 operations like personal care, food, beauty and health care products and services. The report
had been outline by the background of Unilever and consumer good industry as well as showed
market position of company. It had been covered by SWOT and PESTEL analysis for
understood internal and external affects of company. The study has present the market gap
between existing company growth and market environment. In order to overcome these gap here
is introduce new marketing mix of Unilever.

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
1. Background of statement to outlines the industry or organisation, market positioning as
well as the unique selling proposition.........................................................................................1
2. Marketing Audit......................................................................................................................4
3. Analysis of Marketing Mix for improving company's present marketing strategy................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Marketing management can be defined as an analysis, planning, implementing and
control of all the programmes which are designed to bring desired exchanges with the market
targetted in order to achieve desired objectives of the organization. It is a process which is being
executed by an organization to meet and increase competitive edge in the market with the help of
an improved method of distribution through reducing cost and increasing profits . Present study
is based on Unilever which is headquartered in London, UK. Company is majorly involved in
products including foods and beverages, personal care products and beauty products. It is one of
the oldest multinational organization whose products are available in around 190 countries
(Deepak and Jeyakumar, 2019). This report consist of a market positioning and unique selling
proposition of the organization. This study also includes an oversight of the company with the
competitive environment of the market. Further this study comprises a market audit of internal
and external factors effecting the organization in growth and expansion of the company. Lastly
this report includes the actions of marketing mix which are being used for achieving the gap
between the company's present marketing strategy and external environment.
MAIN BODY
1. Background of statement to outlines the industry or organisation, market positioning as well as
the unique selling proposition.
For this report, here is select an Unilever company which is belongs with consumer
goods industry. The fast moving consumer goods and consumer packaged goods are products
which are sold quickly and at a relatively low cost and prices of product. That goods are includes
non-durable household goods like packaged foods, beverages ad over the counter drugs or other
consumable goods. This industry have the high rates turnover but can be influenced by the
holiday or in season time. In the season time manager is offer discounts to customer in order
attract more or increase sales margin (Kotler and et.al., 2015). Packaging plays an crucial role in
FMCG goods to become a more successful in the highly dynamic and innovation in segment a
company not only has to be acquainted with the customer, brand and logistics. The profit margin
is small but they are generally sold ample numbers or products and services in effective manner.
Unilever is the British transactional consumer goods company. Its product include food
and beverages are 41% of its cleaning agents, personal care products and beauty products. It is
the one of leading and oldest multinational company and its products are available in around 190
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countries. The company was founded on 2 September, 1929, by margarine of Dutch margarine
producer are Margarine Unie and British soapmaker lever brothers (Al Fahad and et.al., 2015).
During the second half of 20th century company diversified increasingly by maker new products
like oil, fats and expanded its operations worldwide. Company has the numerous corporate
structure and acquisitions including different brands and companies at marketplace. Company
was faced losses by their products for that, In the 2010 company is increase their focus on beauty
and healthy products because of food brands are showing slow growth of company.
Unilever has aim to make sustainable living commonplace. On the other side, the goal of
company is improve health and well-being of peoples and to halve the environment footprint to
the group products (Armstrong and et.al., 2018). Meet the everyday needs for nutrition, hygiene
and personal care brands to help to feel good and get more out of the life. As per the research,
presently company have 155000 employees in 2019 with high net income of company
(Armstrong and et.al., 2018). Unilever has divided their operations in 4 parts: personal care
products, foods, refreshment and home care products. Company has the separate legal entity with
the different shareholders and separate stock exchange listings. This has series legal agreements
between a parent companies and together with the special provision in their respective AOA
(Article of Association), which is the foundation of agreements.
The main key requirement of this agreements is that same people be on the board of the
two parent companies. Ben & Jerry, Hindustan Unilever and so on are the subsidiaries of
Unilever company. The main competitors of Unilever includes Colgate Palmolive, Nestle,
Newell Brands, Edge well personal care and Estee Lauder. Those are the main competitors of
Unilever in market place. The company having a environmental footprint which is helps to
measures human demand on nature i.e. the quality of nature takes support peoples or an economy
(Unilever information, 2019). The segment of Unilever food, beverages, cleaning agents or
personal care products in company. The company is target to individual and households without
considering age of people. The company sold products for each age group which is effective for
company for growth. The main position of company as brand with the purpose of improving
gains. The company sold best quality of products and services as per customer requirements. The
quality of goods creates a best trust of people through that customers attract towards company.
The company had the strong culture and employee brand with the so many different
products and different brand. The company have big part of a company's external environment.
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Competitors made the strategy to attract more customers towards which is not good for the
company and its growth factor (West, Ford and Ibrahim, 2015). In this Unilever made different
strategy which is made some changes in taste and preference of food products.
As per the graph, company continuously increase growth by their skin and health care market
share and products. The unique sells proposition of Unilever is skin and health care products.
Other side, Unilever has to win against the vast ocean of the competition to gain a sustainable
market position. Marketing position of company is good because they are sells best quality of
products and services at market place in effective manner. Underlying the sales growth was 3.1%
led by our emerging market business which grew 5.0% (Aithal, 2017). growth was balanced
between volume and prices, which is compared to 4th quarter that helped by sustained company.
The monopoly of Unilever company is a true behemoth it comes to everyday customer needs.
That make every product by using best quality of product and services (Growth of company in
market, 2019). The company is face competition in local markets or specific product range from
ample companies.
2. Marketing Audit
Marketing audit can be identified as a comprehensive and systematic method of
analysing, evaluating and interpreting the business market environment. There are two
environments which are audited by the organization that are internal and external environment.
The main aim of the marketing audit is to analyse the effects from internal and external
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Illustration 1: Growth of company.
(Source: Growth of company in market, 2019)

environment in order to achieve goals and objectives of the organization by executing
appropriate strategies and principle to ascertain the area of problem and opportunity (Al Fahad
and et.al., 2015). This helps in developing a plan of action for enhancing the company's
marketing performance. Unilever is a huge organization which makes it essential for the
company to audit its external and internal environment in order to determine inefficiencies that
are being faced by the company and overcome them by developing most effective marketing
strategies. In order to determine the external environment factors affecting marketing of the
company, PESTLE analysis of the company is being discussed as follows:
PESTLE Analysis
It is a tool which is being used by the organizations for analysing and monitoring macro
environment factors that impacts the performance of the organization. It can help Unilever in
outlining overall market attractiveness with analysing the opportunity for market growth as it
involves evaluation of factors which includes political, economic, social, technological,
environmental and legal. These factors are being evaluated by the company in order to determine
the opportunities for company's potential growth.
 Political Factor: It can be classified as the factor which involves all the changes by the
government in the economy or the particular industry. These factors include aspects like
government policy, corruption, political stability or instability, labour law, foreign trade
policy, tax policy and trade restrictions. These aspects of political factor can effect the
growth opportunities of Unilever both negatively and positively. The negative aspect
which influences growth opportunities of Unilever is restrictions regarding imports and
exports in various countries like India, China, Afghanistan, etc. (Rastogi and Trivedi,
2016) which prevents the company to export its products, whereas in such countries there
is a political stability, company can expand their business in those nations that is an
opportunity for the organization. The major threat which company have is political issues
in the European Union, their decision making can influence the business of the
organization if the trade practices legislations are being changed.
 Economic Factor: This involves the determinants of the certain economy's performance.
The aspects of economic factors consist of inflation rates, economic growth, interest
rates, exchange rates and disposable income of consumers and unemployment rates.
These factors directly impact the purchasing power of consumers which influences in
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changing demand and supply of the products. Unilever is having an opportunity of
expansion as high growth of developing countries has made many opportunities of
business outside the country because of their good financial position which may help
them in overcoming in a period of recession. Another advantage from economic factor to
Unilever is stability in the economy of the developed countries which decreases the risk
of failure in the business of the company by decreasing the chances of recession period.
The major threat which company has to considered from economic factor is increasing
wages and inflation rate in the foreign countries which can influence the export and
import of goods in other nations due to high inflation rate (Widya Yudha, Tjahjono and
Kolios, 2018).
 Social Factor: This is a factor of macro environment which represents the demographic
characteristics, values, norms and customs of the population within which the
organization is being operating its businesses. There are various aspects of social factors
which includes population trends like age distribution, population's growth rate, income
distribution, career attitudes, health consciousness, cultural barriers, safety emphasis and
lifestyle attitudes. This majorly effects on the needs and demand from the customers by
differentiating them among various segments which helps in marketing the products
according to segmented customers. Unilever is already involved in making products that
emphasizes on health which is an opportunity for the company to offer its products to the
maximum number of customers in order to grab a huge market which can help in
potential growth of the company. Increasing environmentalists behaviour creates an
opportunity for the company to attract maximum number of customers through
improving its environmental impact (Sroufe and Sroufe, 2018).
 Technological Factor: It refers to all those aspects which impacts the company's
operations favourably or unfavourably by innovations in the technology. The aspects of
technological factors comprises technology incentives, research and development
activity, level of innovation, technological change with the amount of technological
awareness which a market possesses. These decisions influence the company for entering
or not entering the specific industries. The most positive aspect which Unilever have is
their updated usage of technology which make them unique and updated in the market.
Rising business automation can help the company in making its all the processes
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automated which significantly decreases the cost of production and increases the profit
margin of the company. Since, the major threat to the company is the pace of innovation,
which increases the expenses of organization in order to be updated all the time for
providing a competitive edge (Barba and et.al., 2016).
 Legal Factor: The aspects of legal factors are majorly similar to political factors but it
has several additions to legal laws and legislations which influences the performance of
the business. Legal factors may includes aspects like employment laws, discrimination
laws, copyrights and patent laws, antitrust laws, with health and safety laws. In order to
prevent all the unlawful activities, company needs to understand and execute all the rules
and regulations formed by the legislation which majorly includes trade laws. Unilever has
the opportunity to grow its business as the legal factors are helpful for the company
because of increasing complexity of environmental regulation. Company is already
involved in producing environmental products which helps the organization in standing
more forward from other competitors in the market by providing environment friendly
products.
 Environmental Factors: It is one of the most essential macro environment factor which
is influencing the operations of the business. Environmental factor has become more
significant because of increasing scarcity of raw material, pollution targets as well as
carbon footprints targets which are being set by the government play a major role in
manufacturing of products and services. This includes environmental aspects like
weather, climate, climate change and environmental offsets that may strongly influences
industries. Unilever has the opportunity to grow by attracting more number of customers
who are concerned about the environment through improving its environmental
programs, this will help the company because of rising interest of population in
environmentalism. The company is one step ahead from its competitors by providing
more health conscious products which play a major role in an environment where health
consciousness is more prioritized (Aithal, 2017).
SWOT Analysis
It is a framework which consist of strength, weakness, opportunity and threat, which is
used to evaluate an organization's internal environment factors for developing strategies for
growing potentially and overcoming various inefficiencies by created an appropriate framework
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of strategies (Phadermrod, Crowder and Wills, 2019.). Unilever's SWOT analysis is being
conducted for determining the opportunities of potential growth in the business of the
organization.
Strengths
This is a section of SWOT analysis in which all the strengths are being determined by
differentiating the company from others in the positive aspects which may include a strong brand
name, unique technology, a loyal customer base, etc. Unilever is having a strong brand name in
the market which helps in attracting more customers at new regions. The company is effective in
penetration of market which helps the company in competing with other firms. Economies of
scale has also being a strong part for the organization as company is providing competitive
pricing strategies as per the marketing mix of the company. Hence, the internal strategic factors
of Unilever are strong enough to sustain global growth and achieve success in the consumer
goods market.
Weaknesses
This is the negative aspect in the SWOT analysis which helps in identifying the
weaknesses of the organization. This helps in overcoming the weaknesses and achieve the targets
attained by the company. Despite of a strong position in the market, there are several weaknesses
that limits the potential growth of Unilever. The weaknesses which are to be addressed by the
company are its imitable products, dependence on retailers and limited business diversification.
Instead of a broad range of its products, company is facing weakness because of their limited
diversification in businesses outside the consumer goods industry. Another weakness in Unilever
is its products substitutes which are easily available in the market. In order to remain competitive
in the market, company has to decrease its prices of products for attracting more customers. This
decreases the profit margin of the products that leads to decreasing productivity of the company.
These aspects are preventing the potential growth opportunities for Unilever.
Opportunities
Opportunities can be determined as favourable internal and external factors which can
help the organization in giving a competitive advantage. There are several opportunities for
Unilever for the potential growth in the market because of its brand name. Company can easily
diversify a new range of products by entering businesses other than consumer goods industry
which helps in reducing market based risks and improves resilience of the business. Unilever has
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an opportunity of growing their business by product innovation for health, which can attract
more number of customers because of health consciousness trend in the market. These
opportunities are to be understood and executed by the company for potentially growing their
business (Gürel and Tat, 2017).
Threats
Threats refers to the factors which have the potential to harm the operations of an
organization in order to prevent its growth and survival. The major threat which Unilever is
having includes number of competitors in the market. The increasing number of competition can
influence the operations of the business by penetrating the price for giving a tough competition
in the market. Another threat to Unilever is availability of its substitute products in the market.
There is a huge substitution available for the products of Unilever in the market which can effect
the customer base of the company.
3. Analysis of Marketing Mix for improving company's present marketing strategy
Marketing Mix can be referred as a combination of all those factors which are being
controlled by a company for the purpose of influencing consumers to purchase its products.
There are majorly 7 P's of marketing mix which consist of product, price, place, promotion,
process, people and physical evidence. It is essential for Unilever to use the combination of all
these aspects of marketing mix in order to achieve the gaps between the company's current
marketing strategy and the macro environment factors.
 Product Mix: It can be referred as a tangible or intangible thing which is offered to
customers in order to fulfil their needs and satisfaction. Unilever is having a wide variety
of products which can be classified as foods, refreshments, personal care and home care.
These segments of products shows that product mix of the company is highly diversified
which is helpful for expansion of the business. Consumers are more attracted to the
company who offers more options for the product. As per the external factors, company
can bring in new segment of product other than its existing range which mainly
emphasizes on health consciousness for the purpose of growth, this can help in filling the
gap between marketing mix and external environment factors (Fan, Lau and Zhao, 2015).
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 Place Mix: This is referred as a channel of distribution which is being used by the
company for providing the right products, at the right place and at the right time.
Unilever is offering its products globally through an effective supplier chain in the
market. The places where company offers its products includes retailers, kiosks and
stores (Marketing mix of Unilever, 2019.). These are the effective methods of distribution
which are being used by Unilever, but it is to be updated according to present external
environment trends. Population is currently involved in usage of online applications for
the purchase of home and beauty care products, this is to be considered by Unilever and
products are to be offered online too, for achieving maximum number of customer base
in the market.
 Price Mix: Price mix is an element of marketing mix which helps a company in choosing
the most appropriate pricing strategy for achieving maximum number of customers in the
market. Unilever is involved in usage of penetration pricing strategy and premium pricing
strategy in the retail market. Whereas they are involved in product bundle pricing strategy
for the wholesalers who buy products in a bulk. These are significant pricing strategies
used in a business, but as per the market, people are involved in buying products
according to their purchasing power which has limited the buying behaviour of products.
The company can use market oriented pricing strategy by implementing different pricing
strategies according to the market requirements. Like, for creating a new customer base
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Illustration 2: Marketing mix
(Source: Marketing mix of Unilever. 2019.)

in the new market, products can be offered at low prices by using price penetration
strategy. Price skimming strategy can be used in such region where company have strong
and loyal consumer base, premium pricing can be used for providing a tough competition
in the international market by maintaining the standards of the company (Festa, and
et.al.,2016).
 Promotion Mix: This can be defined as the methods from which products of the
company are being promoted by marketing of products. It is essential to promote its
product in the most effective manner as the company is offering its products in a high
competition market which increase the importance of promotion for the business.
Unilever is involved in promotion of its products with several methods which includes
primary advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing and public relation. Company is
involved in advertisement through magazine, television and other traditional methods.
Sales promotion is being done through offering discounts on bulk purchases. The
company is not involved in usage of most trending mode of promotion as per the external
environment and preference of the customers. Social media can be used by company for
promoting its products as maximum number of people involved in usage of Unilever's
product are using social media applications which can help the company in attracting
maximum number of consumers to its products.
 People Mix: People mix can be determined as an element of marketing mix in which all
those people are being used by the company for the marketing of the products in an
effective manner for influencing the customers to consume the goods produced by the
company. Unilever is having a sales team in which they have people working for the
marketing of the products. They also have people appointed in their customer service
department. These people are involved in marketing of the products but, as per the
external market environment, consumers are looking for the value in the product, which
is not being delivered by people appointed in Unilever. Company has to improve its
people efficiency by providing necessary training and development to its employees
involved in marketing for delivering the value for the product to the customers (Išoraitė,
2016).
 Process Mix: Process mix involves the aspects which helps in ensuring the process of
distribution of products and marketing is being performed in an effective manner.
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Unilever is involved in usage of several systems for ensuring the inventory level to its
suppliers for making its products available on time to its customers. Company also have
an online delivery portal which takes order and provide it to its customers quickly. For
preventing inefficiencies from the external environment factors, company must update its
systems for being updated, this can help in saving cost and time which results in
increasing productivity of the company.
 Physical Evidence Mix: This can be referred as a physical or tangible product which
facilitates performance or communication of the service. Unilever sells its product in a
distinct colour packaging which is facilitates its customers in easily identifying the
products of company on the shelves of a retail store. In order to prevent any gap between
external environment factors, company can use environment friendly packaging which
can be used by the business to attract more consumers who are more conscious for the
environment (Blut, Teller and Floh, 2018).
CONCLUSION
From the above study it had been concluded that the marketing management has
important for company and its growth factor. The company has the greatest brands which is
occupying and stands gallant position through the whole world. The company has continuous
growth in last 5 years through their skin and health care products. It had been also concluded that
the company have eligible employees who gave their hard contribution for achieve goals and
objectives of company in effective manner. From the overall study, company get the idea of
their strength, weakness as in a word SWOT. Other, understood the impact of external factors
like political, legal in word of PESTEL. Both model helped to company to understood their
market position and its growth at marketplace in effective manner. Through, manager had made
various strategy for promoting products and services at marketplace by using promotional;
channels. The company had maintain their value chain which has the unique role behind the
success. It had been also concluded that the by outlining the overall market attractiveness is the
potential for market growth. Report had been analysed by the market gap which had been
fulfilled by using new marketing mix of company. The market gap between the company's
present marketing strategy and external environment. That had been fulfilled by using marketing
mix through that company manager made new strategy to overcome those in effective manner
like channels of promotion, pricing strategy and other.
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