Marketing and Management Report: Unilever Industry and Market Analysis

This report offers a comprehensive analysis of Unilever's marketing and management strategies within the consumer goods industry. It begins with a background statement, outlining the industry context, Unilever's market positioning, and its unique selling proposition. The report then conducts a detailed marketing audit, examining the macro and microenvironments, product profiles, target markets, marketing strategies, consumer buying behavior, and the marketing mix. It also explores the potential for future market growth and provides a competitor analysis of key industry players. Furthermore, the report discusses new marketing mix actions to bridge gaps between the company's current strategies and the external environment. The analysis includes specific examples such as Dove's brand positioning and Unilever's approach to sustainable living, providing a thorough understanding of the company's marketing practices and strategic direction.

Running head: MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
Marketing and Management
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Executive Summary:
The report provides an insight into the marketing and management based on a selected industry,
organization and market scenario. The industry and company selected for this report is the
consumer goods industry Unilever that operates under a competitive market structure. For
carrying out the analysis, the report commences with a background statement with special focus
on the industry and the company, market proposition and the unique selling proposition. The
report also puts forward a marketing audit with special focus on the macro and
microenvironment, product profile, packaging, target market, marketing strategy, marketing
systems and organizations, buying behavior of the consumers and marketing mix function.
Through the report, one also gets an idea about the future growth of the company. There is
further discussion on the competitor analysis of Unilever. There is also discussion on the newer
marketing mix actions that helps in achieving the gap between the present marketing strategy and
the external environment.

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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................3
1. Background Statement:................................................................................................................3
a. About Industry and Company..................................................................................................3
b. Market Positioning...................................................................................................................4
c. Unique Selling Proposition......................................................................................................6
2. Marketing Audit...........................................................................................................................6
a. Overall Market Attractiveness.................................................................................................6
i. Marketing Strategy................................................................................................................6
ii. Product Profile, Packaging and Target Market....................................................................9
iii. Buying Behavior of Consumers..........................................................................................9
iv. Competitors:......................................................................................................................10
v. Micro Environment............................................................................................................10
vi. Macro Environment...........................................................................................................12
vii. Marketing Productivity....................................................................................................14
viii. Marketing Function.........................................................................................................14
ix. Marketing Organization....................................................................................................15
x. Marketing Systems.............................................................................................................15
b. Potential for Further Market Growth.....................................................................................16
3. Competitor Analysis of Three Main Industry Players..............................................................17
4. New Marketing Mix Actions for Achieving Gaps between Company Present Marketing
Strategy and External Environment...............................................................................................18
Conclusion:....................................................................................................................................20
References:....................................................................................................................................21
Appendices:...................................................................................................................................22

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Introduction:
The report aims at providing an overview of marketing and management in the context of
selected industry, organization and market scenario. The industry selected is the consumer goods
whereas the organization selected Unilever with a marketing strategy that helps it in achieving
the purpose of ensuring sustainable living and delivering benefit to all the stakeholders. Unilever
represents British Dutch transnational consumer good firm with headquarter in Netherlands
(unilever.nl 2018). The products of the company include beverages, food, cleaning agents and
products of personal care. The report tries to provide an insight into the conditions that leads to
the building and sustenance of consumer loyalty. The report commences with a background
statement for outlining the industry, market positioning and the unique selling proposition. There
report also outlines the marketing audit consisting of the marketing plan, strategies, objectives
and the current activities that helps in defining the market attractiveness and the potential for the
market growth. The report also put forward a competitor analysis of the three main players of the
industry. There is also a critical discussion on how the newer marketing mix actions helps in
achieving the gaps between the present marketing strategy of the company and the external
environment.
1. Background Statement:
a. About Industry and Company
Unilever belongs to the consumer goods industry that aims at creating and distributing
products frequently bought by the consumers. In other words, products belonging to the
consumer goods industry undergo quick movement from the retailer shelf to the consumers
(unilever.nl 2018). Unilever represents the largest consumer goods company in the world in
terms of the revenue. It is also the oldest multinational and holds the seventh position in terms of
the ranking of the most valuable company. The company has close to four hundred brands and
has a turnover of more than 50 billion Euros. Out of which thirteen brands have sales close to
one billion Euros. These include Dove, Axe/Lynx, Omo, Heartbranded Ice creams, Knorr,
Lipton, Lux, Hellmann, Rama, Sunsilk, Surf and Rexona. The company has dual listing;
Unilever PLC has headquarters in London while Unilever NV is located in Rotterdam,
Netherlands. Both the companies operate as single business and share their board of directors.

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The company has four primary divisions that include home care, personal care, refreshment (ice
creams and beverages) and food. The company has research and development facilities in United
Kingdom, China, India, United States and Netherlands (unilever.nl 2018).
The company emerged during the year 1930 because of merger between the Dutch
margarine producer, Margarine Unie and the soap maker from Britain, Lever Brothers. The
company diversified during the latter half of 20th century thereby expanding its operations
(unilever.nl 2018). The company undertook various corporate acquisitions that included Lipton,
Best Foods, Ben and Jerry, Alberto Culver and Dollar Shave Club. The company also ventured
into chemical business. The Unilever PLC has listing on London Stock Exchange and is
constituent of FTSE 100 Index while the Unilever NV has listing on Euronext Amsterdam and is
constituent of AEX index.
b. Market Positioning
Market positioning refers to the influence of the consumer perception about a product or
a brand in relation to perception of the competing products or brands (Menkveld 2013). The aim
of market positioning lies in occupying a unique, clear and advantageous position in the minds of
the consumer. Unilever ensures the positioning of its soap brand Dove with aspect of
differentiation that beauty does not simply imply attraction but it refers to something beyond the
things and is about all women and their inner beauty. The concept so well furnished towards the
market segment of Dove that is women, where most of them relate their skin with the brand.
Unilever introduced the brand Dove with a newer idea of skin moisturizing which did not exist
before. The company developed the product line of Dove through the careful examination of
behavior and the traits of the women concerning personal care and beauty (Murray 2013). The
product line of the brand has various products ranging from body wash, skincare soaps and hair
care products and moisturizing lotions along with the launch of the brand especially for men in
the year 2010. Unilever thus reached every individual through the production of varied range of
the products as per the requirement of the prospective and current consumers. There are five
different classes of products for Dove that includes products of hair care, men care, body
wash/beauty bars, lotions and deodorants. Each of the primary categories of Dove has a range of
sub products.

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For strengthening the market positioning, Unilever adopted a promotional strategy that
helped enhancing the fame of the brand in market especially in the personal care category
(Glasbergen 2013). The promotion of Dove is done with a focus on the fact that it maintains and
enhances the beauty of the women. Unilever makes sure that the brand markets all its products
through television commercials, print media, signboards, banners and social media. For grabbing
the attention of the buyers, the brand takes advantage of some of the marketing tools like over
counter advertising, promotion counters and the previous recommendation from clients. Unilever
brand Dove thus adopts a marketing strategy that portrays it is the only brand that not only cares
for the skin but also tries to resolve skin problems.
c. Unique Selling Proposition
The unique selling proposition of a brand is something that its competitor is unable to
deliver. The proposition involves differentiating a product from the competitors in a manner that
the customer can instantly notice such difference (Ashley and Tuten 2015). Unilever not only
believes in a profitable growth but also a responsible one. The approach is a part of business
model driven by the concept of sustainable living. It also guides the approach on how the
company does business and is able to meet increasing consumer demand in the world that has
finite resources. The business model of Unilever focuses on the consumer insight and informs
about the brand innovation for creation of the products through marketing and advertisement
across range of the distribution channels. Unilever adopts the unique selling proposition by
adoption of good planning for advertisement and by offering inexpensive products thereby
targeting the middle and upper class consumers. For instance, the company provides a better
option in the form of Dove shampoo a better option for the maintenance and repair of the hair at
lower prices. The soaps manufactured by the company undergo similar packaging as the other
brands that also help in keeping the cost lower. Unilever thus adopts a pricing strategy by
considering the brand image and the sustainable growth that helps the company in gaining of
competitive advantage.
2. Marketing Audit

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a. Overall Market Attractiveness
i. Marketing Strategy
Business Mission:
Unilever follows a mission of adding vitality to the life. The company tries in meeting the
everyday nutrition, hygiene and personal care needs with the brands that help the people in
feeling and looking good (unilever.nl 2018) The company tries to meet the growing needs of the
consumers concerning healthy lifestyle, indulgence and convenience. Indulgence in terms of the
product refers to more sensuality, variety and enjoyment.
Marketing Objectives and Goals
Unilever has a distinct purpose and their operational expertise helps in realizing the
vision in growing the business while decoupling the environmental footprint from the growth
and thereby enhancing the positive social impact that is captured in the sustainable living plan of
Unilever (unilever.nl 2018). The company also combines the multinational expertise with the
deep roots in the diverse cultures and continues in providing range of the products that suits the
customer wealth. The company also holds the objective in strengthening the stronger
relationships in emerging markets that would lead to significant amount of growth in the future.
In addition, by leveraging the global reach and inspiring the people in taking smaller actions on
daily basis, the company tries to make a bigger difference in the world.
Marketing Strategies
The company invests in long-term strategy of brands and categories that helps in
delivering growth for benefitting all the stakeholders. These long-term strategies include
(unilever.nl 2018):
1. Choice of the portfolio: It includes choice of categories, active portfolio management
and building of prestigious business
2. Innovation and Brands: This involves a focused approach towards innovation, driving
margins, efficiency, and more investment in the digital marketing

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3. Development of the market: This involves consideration of the routes to the market,
emerging markets and the e –commerce
4. Considering Agility and Cost: This involves the manufacture of the overheads and the
base, zero-based budgeting and the leveraging of the scale
5. Taking into Account the People: This involves attraction of the talent their
development and their empowerment
Intensive Strategies
The intensive strategies of the company include(Theiben, Spinler and Huchzermeier 2014):
1. Market Penetration: Unilever’s brand Dove adopts a specific strategy for improving
the market penetration. This particular brand adopts the sampling technique by sending its
representatives to the different segments of the market and assigning them task for identifying
the wants and needs of the various segments of the market.
2. Market Development: The Company extends the strategy of market development
through stimulation of product research and innovation. Unilever also focuses on the aspects of
expansion, partnership and acquisition through the strategy of market development
3. Product Development: Unilever resorted to the process of product development
through the development of a newer formula of laundry detergent that involved more
concentration and less packaging thereby fitting then needs of the mobile and eco friendly
customers.
ii. Product Profile, Packaging and Target Market
The Dove brand of Unilever provides higher quality of products. The categories of
products under the brand include skin care, bathing and washing, hair care and deodorants. The
soap positions itself as not only a soap but also beauty bar (globalcosmeticsnews.com 2018). The
hair care products of Dove find recommendations by the dermatologists. The brand regularly
introduces newer products like the advanced hair series and dry spray deodorant on a global
scale. The brand has also forayed into various baby care products that included baby lotion,
moisturizer, wipes and diaper creams.

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Packaging refers to the production and designing of the wrapper or a container for the
products (Shah, Ahmad and Ahmad 2013). This aspect is necessary for the product as nowadays
it helps in determining sales. Unilever’s brand Dove also considers the importance of packaging
and hence designs its soap bar in a unique carved shaped with simple and elegant color of the
packaging around the bird logo. This not only helped in easier distinction and recognition of the
brand within customer minds. This helped in establishing the uniqueness of the soap brand of
Dove.
The target market of the company represents beauty and health conscious people both the
female and the male group since the company established positioning in terms of the beauty and
health care products (Tolstikova 2013). The Unilever brands are quite popular across the world
and hence remain shelved like most routine grocery items due to their huge demand.
iii. Buying Behavior of Consumers
The five stages of buying behavior of consumer that includes recognition of the problem,
information search, alternative evaluation, purchase decision and the post purchase
behavior(Solomon et al. 2014). This also holds true for the buying behavior of the consumers for
the Dove brand. Since Dove is portrayed as beauty products, so look conscious recognizes its
needs. The marketing campaign undertaken by the Unilever brand through advertisement and
other means instills sufficient awareness amongst the people. The consumer then undertakes a
comparative analysis of the other brands before making a purchase decision. However,
uniqueness of the brand helps the consumers in making a purchase decision from the outlets
(Oliver 2014).
iv. Competitors:
The competitors of Unilever that are worth mentioning include:
 Procter and Gamble
 Nestle
 Kraft
v. Micro Environment
SWOT Analysis

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Strength
 The contribution of Unilever to home and personal care has a net sales worth of 72.9
percent.
 The selling expenses and the marketing rose by around 12.5 percent
 Unilever has stronger brand portfolio and a diverse range of products
 The company has a total turnover close to 27 percent
 The company operates in close to 190 countries across the world and has global footprint
in combination with top brands recalled by most consumers across the world.
 Unilever has unique competitive advantage over its competitors due to flexible pricing
and the expertise in the distribution channels that helps in reaching every corner of globe.
Weakness
 The weakness of Unilever lies in the fact that the company operates under a competitive
market with presence of other global giants like Nestle and P&G (Santos and Laczniak
2015). There are also host of local players that challenges the dominance of the company
thereby raising its stakes in close to trillions
 The weakness also lays in the availability of the substitute products of the company
especially in emerging where the rural consumers can use the natural and alternative
product to the one’s marketed by Unilever
Opportunities
 Unilever has tremendous opportunity in its diverse range of products which its
competitors also do not have
 The company also has the opportunity in leveraging a growing and huge customer
base in the emerging markets
 Unilever keeps up with the product innovation on the basis of the customer
expectations
 The company through its products also ensures a higher level of customer satisfaction

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 The company also portrays social and environmental responsibility with emergence
of ethical consumers who believes in buying brands that are not only sustainably
complete but also responsibly made (Hasan 2015).
Threats
 The global economic crisis has influenced the profitability of the Unilever. The
shrinkage in the disposable income of the global consumer causes less buying(Grant
2016). This implies the reduction in the revenue with an increase in the cost.
 Unilever also faces the threat of local and the alternative products that seems to
provide greater value for lesser amount of money, especially in the emerging markets.
 The government regulations and laws are also quite challenging for the company
 The new breed and the new age competition from the various conglomerates also act
as a threat for Unilever.
vi. Macro Environment
PESTEL Analysis
Political
A better intra-governmental relationships acts as opportunity for a global company like
Unilever that has many competitors (Kew and Stredwick 2017). Several policies of the
government pertaining to population health that acts threat factors for the company. Better
economies does not act as a hindrance to the business of the company while the opportunities in
the third world countries are halted for reasons unknown.
Economic
Unilever always focuses on the realm of the product need that helps the company in
maintenance of stability and its worth. Therefore, the company performance remains directly
proportional to economic stability of state in which it works. Similarly, in the region where
countries remain developed there exist more opportunistic avenues for the company.
Social