Unilever is one of the leading FMCG organizations in the world based in London, England. The company was started in 1890 in England with an ambition to provide quality products to the consumers within Britain. Over time, the company expanded in terms of products and markets. One of the significant elements that contributed towards its success is the continuous focus on the growth of the company. To understand the company’s growth and success, Ansoff matrix analysis is conducted for the company.
Market Penetration
According to Kaur (2013), market penetration is a strategy adapted throughout the decades by Unilever which has been contributing towards the success of the company. Whenever the company introduced a product in a particular market, the company sells it intending to penetrate in the market. The company does not focus on selling to a few customers and then moving to the next market or product but the company understands the importance of the economies of scale in an FMCG organization which is the reason for such a huge success of the company. The products of the company such as Magnum is penetrated throughout the existing geographic markets with a wide distribution. Today, 2.6 billion consumers daily consume a product form Unilever in different parts of the world showing evidence for its penetration (Unilever, 2019).
Product Development
According to Dirisu et al. (2013), product development is linked with the innovation and creativity of an organization and a focus on the product development means the company regularly either improves the product or come up with new products for the consumers. Unilever understands the importance of improving the product line and keep on producing new products for attracting a different segment of customers. One of the major benefits Unilever has received over the years is the diverse customer base of the company which is mainly due to a range of product offerings. The company started with soap and now it offers a range of products including tea, milk, ice-cream, yogurt, detergent, soaps, and shampoos. It means that the company has been involved in product development throughout the years which allowed the company to keep on growing and diversifying the customer base. This product development strategy has kept the company on the path of success because the customers were getting new products regularly and the scope of Unilever’s offerings was also improving.
Market Development
Market development is a strategy through which the company enters the new geographical market to expand the company and its operations. Unilever never aimed to stay at the local market but the company always implemented the market development strategy to keep their company growing. Starting from London, the company first grew all over England and then stepped in other countries of Europe to make their existence felt in those countries. The continuous success of the company in European countries did not satisfy the hunger of getting an expansion and the company moved to America and Asia to further develop the new markets. Currently, the company has its presence in more than 150 countries all over the globe which speaks volumes of its success for the market development strategy. It also shows a high focus of the company towards the market development strategy. It is important to understand that the company understood to have a diversified customer base in terms of product as well as the geographical market. A downside in one market would be backed by the improvement in other and this has been the case with Unilever.
Diversification
The company has been adapting the diversification strategy through related and unrelated means of diversification. The acquisition and ownership of different subsidiaries are done usually to have unrelated diversification by the company. Some of the unrelated diversifications of the company include Tatcha LLC, Dermalogica, and Seventh generation as they are mainly linked with the beauty and cosmetics industry. In terms of related diversification, the continuous increment in the product line of the company is done from the perspective of related diversification. The different business units are developed over the decades to achieve related diversification such as food brands, dairy brands, and refreshment brands (Nazarova, 2015).
The Ansoff matrix based analysis of the company shows that the company has been involved in the growth throughout the decades. The focus of the company is to grow from different aspects rather than dependant on one strategy.
References
Kaur, M. (2013). Rural marketing: A case study on Hindustan Unilever Limited. International Journal of Applied Research and Studies, 2(6), 1-14.
Nazarova, V. (2015). Corporate Diversification Effect on Firm Value (Unilever Group Case Study). Annals of economics and finance, 16(1), 173-198.
Dirisu, J. I., Iyiola, O., & Ibidunni, O. S. (2013). Product differentiation: A tool of competitive advantage and optimal organizational performance (A study of Unilever Nigeria PLC). European Scientific Journal, 9(34).
Unilever. (2019). About Unilever. Available at: https://www.unilever.com/about/who-we-are/about-Unilever/