Unilever Product Life Cycle

Firstly, Ben and Jerry’s was developing and becoming more and more popular every day, and they were unable to satisfy demand due to restricted production facilities. They needed larger facilities and more labor in order to increase production. Unilever were able to support Ben and Jerry’s distribution network, and to give them the ability to enter new markets. Ben and Jerry’s had reached their highest point, and so were unable to do this alone. An alliance would have been possible, but had an alliance been forged, it would not have been profitable enough for Unilever, because it would not have made sense for Unilever to forge an alliance with a company who had already reached their highest point. Therefore, in order to help Ben and Jerry’s meet the demands of the market, and to restructure the manufacturing process, it made more sense for Unilever to acquire Ben and Jerry’s than to form an alliance with them.

Unilever Global is a company dedicated to producing quality and nutritionally balanced foods to indulgent ice creams, affordable soaps, luxurious shampoos and everyday household care products. They also produce world-leading brands which include Lipton, Knorr, Dove, Axe, Hellmann’s and Omo, alongside trusted local names such as Blue Band, Pureit and Suave. Furthermore, Unilever Global is one of the world’s leading fast-moving consumer goods companies with products sold in over 190 countries. Arguably, more than 2 billion consumers worldwide use a Unilever product on any given day. According to its website, the vision of Unilever is “to make sustainable living commonplace place, working to create a better future every day,

Product: It is the physical product or service offered to a customer. Product decisions include aspects like packaging, appearance, service, warranty etc.

Its origin goes back to the 19th century when a group of companies operating independently, produced soaps and margarine. In 1930, the companies merged to form Unilever that diversified into food products in 1940s. Through the next five decades, it emerged as a major fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) multinational operating in several businesses. In 2004, the Unilever 2010 strategic plan was put into action with the mission to ‘bring vitality to life’ and ‘to meet everyday needs for nutrition, hygiene and personal care with brands that help people feel good, look good and get more out of life’. The corporate strategy is of focusing on core businesses of food, home care and personal care. Unilever operates in more than 100 countries, has a turnover of €39.6 billion and net profit of €3.685 billion in 2006 and derives 41 per cent of its income from the developing and emerging economies around the world. It has 179,000 employees and is a culturally-diverse organization with its top management coming from 24 nations. Internationalization is based on the principle of local roots with global scale aimed at becoming a ‘multi-local

Unilever, founded in 1929, is an Anglo–Dutch multinational consumer goods company. Its headquarters are in London, England and in Rotterdam, Netherlands as well. It is the world's third-largest consumer goods company as of 2012. It is also one of the oldest multinational companies in the world, its products include food, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products. And these products are available in 190 countries.

This report aims to analyse the financial position of Unilever PLC within its daily operating activities and it also compares the company’s performance with its key competitor, the Proctor and Gamble Company (P&G). The report also includes background of both the companies and an industry overview. To better understand the performance of both the companies, the segmental analyses have been done for both region and products. Due to the global crisis, Unilever and P&G both are facing price rise and inflation pressures, also instability in the Eurozone. All these factors are strongly impacting their operation activity and long-term growth decision plan. Finally After a careful examination of the financial ratios of both the companies, we recommend Unilever as a good company to invest as compared to P&G .The reasons for the following can be seen in the report below.

Unilever, one of the world’s leading suppliers of fast moving consumer goods across Foods and Home and Personal Care categories is an Anglo-Dutch Multinational consumer goods company which is co-headquartered in London, England and Rotterdam, the Netherlands. It is the world's third-largest consumer goods company measured by 2012 revenue and its major Competitors which stand ahead of it are Procter & Gamble and Nestle. Products of Unilever include beverages, Food, personal care products and cleaning agents. Some of the top and major Brands endorsed by Unilever are Axe / Lynx, Blue Band, Dove, Flora / Becel, Hellmann's and Best Foods, Knorr, Heartbrand, Lipton, Lux, Omo, Rexona, Surf and Sunsilk.Unilever is one of the oldest multinational companies and its products are available in around 190 countries. The Company operates worldwide employing around 174,000 people in 316 companies by

Strengths = Premium chocolate markets grows 20 percent annually, high quality hand wrapped packages, stores are located in tourist areas (cruise ship traffic), well established in history, high quality ingredients

A product refers to item which satisfies the need and wants of consumer demands. Product

The marketing mix is defined as a unique blend of product, place, price, and promotion strategies that would produce a satisfying exchange with the target market. The products of this store would include foods that don’t expire quickly and don’t need to be refrigerated. For instance, Cheezits, Pringles, fruit snacks, oatmeal, cereal, peanut butter, crackers, are considered to be food items in that group. Other products the store would have is hygiene products such as deodorant, shampoo, body wash, q-tips, facial tissues, toilet paper, toothbrushes, nail clippers, and toothpaste. Along with other items such as word search books, Sudoku, scrapbooking materials to decorate the boxes. Each item will have a few options such as a cheap and expensive version of each

The resulting image construction management plan to achieve the fantastic friendship selected to meet the Haigh 's Company met. The revelation will continue to reciprocate the knowledge back and forth strategies to move into the global goals. The pastry shop is located close to all major players and the level of valuable ability. Haigh 's steep produce admirable state and chocolate and are known as literally few suppliers. Therefore, the actions of these brands are provided for chocolate from the same basic level. You must understand the importance and power of differentiation in question the quality of annual production and perception of reputation for the whole loyalty also plays a role in the market. (Smith, 2013)

In addition, a large number of brands also results in a lack of a unified global identity. Many of Unilever’s product categories had checkered identities. As Deighton exemplified, the company used to produce ice cream under different brands among the globe, such as Wall in the U.K. and Asia, Kibon in Brazil, Ben & Jerry’s and Breyers in the United States, Langnese in Germany, and so forth. Each one had a

The Unilever Group’s report on ice cream stated that they saw volume growth and share gains in most markets. Specifically they saw a strong performance in Western Europe, Mexico, Indonesia and Australia. Much of this growth was due to the Magnum Gold acquisition and the marketing of this product in these markets. Product quality improvements helped their Klondike line achieve strong results in the U.S.A. The Unilever Group maintained a negative price growth in ice cream. The negative price growth reflected slightly lower gross margins, at constant currency, with commodity costs higher.

This tight control of marketing functions, strong branding of diversified products, and much segmented market view has proven a great advantage for Unibrew. In fact, it has allowed them to capture market shares from big competitors on their main markets, as was the case as recent as in March 2011 when it was clear that Unibrew had captured significant market shares from Carlsberg in Western Europe5.

This helps product development as internal chefs can freely do experiments and explore new food solutions