SWOT Analysis of Unilever focuses on the Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats. Strength and Weakness are the internal factors and Opportunities and Threats are external factors.
SWOT Analysis is a tool to analyze UNILEVER market position. SWOT Analysis is very helpful for the companies to formulate their present and future strategies.
Unilever is a multinational consumer goods company with its Dutch-British offices in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and London, the United Kingdom. Food, cleaning agents, drinks, and personal care products are among its products. It is one of the leading consumer products firms in the world. It is the seventh most valuable business in Europe. Unilever is one of the oldest global companies; in about 190 countries, its goods are available. Here is Unilever ‘s SWOT Report. In India Subsidiary of Unilever is Hindustan Unilever Limited.
Strengths in the SWOT Analysis of Unilever – Unilever SWOT Analysis
- Geographic reach of activities in more than 190 countries-Unilever has a global presence in more than 190 countries, benefiting from a fully multinational brand name.
- Top of the customer mind brand recall Over the years, the company has been able to put the brand name as one of the tops in the minds of consumers, which is a tremendous strength for them as Unilever goods were the first customer choice.
- Diversified commodity range’s deep brand portfolio-Unilever offers enough for everybody. For the business, this sort of product portfolio has always been a strength where they aim to ensure that a consumer does not go back empty-handed.
- Heavily financed innovation and development initiatives-Unilever is constantly on the way to developing and manufacturing new creative goods according to evolving customer needs , making it one of the most successful consumer firms in the world.
- Distribution channel expertise-Unilever was able to build its distribution networks such that every corner of the geographically served is protected, which is a tremendous strength for them.
- Responsive pricing: such a broad portfolio of goods allows them to gamble with their pricing plans from time to time in compliance with the ability of consumers to pay. This makes sure that they are never on the wrong side of market share.
- Industry leader-Unilever is an industry leader in consumer goods, which allows them an added advantage to set market trends over rivals. Any of the trend-setter goods come from Unilever ‘s wallets, making them a market leader in the field.
- Unilever has become renowned for its Glocally thinking of tactics-the perfect combination of multinational and local tactics. They study well for each served market and aim to combine the commodity values with local people’s culture. This makes them a favourite local brand in every region where they run.
- Excellent CSR operations-The brand’s timely and well-thought-out CSR programmes have improved its role all over the world.
- Strong population-A population strength of more than 170,000 from all parts of the world gives it the strength to be a genuinely multinational business competing in the same enterprise with diversified cultures.
- Efficient promotion and advertisement-the need for accurate advertisement for the right audiences is acknowledged. This has always been a power for Unilever to come up with innovative ways of marketing and effectively coming up with their products in the target regions.
- Economies of scale-The scope of market with which they interact with each commodity is immense, allowing them the added advantage of economies of scale to efficiently minimise costs and push performance to the next level.
- Dealer Community: UNILEVER has a good partnership with its dealers which not only supplies them but also focuses on promoting the products and training of the company.
- Return on Capital Expenditure: In the past, UNILEVER was able to effectively produce positive returns on the capital expenditure it spent on different ventures.
- Automation: has enabled more effective resource utilization and cost reduction from various stages of production. It also enables its goods to be consistent in quality, and offers the flexibility to scale up and scale down production as per market demand.
- Trained labor force: UNILEVER has invested heavily in its workforce training, which has resulted in it hiring a significant number of professional and motivated workers.
- Has a diverse workforce, with people of many ethnic , racial, cultural and educational backgrounds who help the organization bring in various ideas and methodologies to do things.
- Entering new markets: Creative teams from UNILEVER have helped it to come up with new products and reach new markets. In the past it was successful, in most of the initiatives it took in new markets.
- Social Media: UNILEVER has a strong social media presence with over millions of followers on the three most prominent social networking platforms : Facebook , Twitter and Instagram. It has a high degree of customer engagement with low customer response time on those channels.
- UNILEVER ‘s geography and location give it a cost advantage in servicing its customers as compared with the competition.
- UNILEVER has a well-established IT system which ensures its internal and external operations are successful.
- UNILEVER has many intellectual property rights including trademarks and patents. This require exclusivity of their products and rivals are unable to copy or reverse engineer it.
- UNILEVER is a company that has been on the market for years and that people recognise. That makes it highly aware of its brand.
- Over the years, its goods have retained consistency and are still respected by consumers, who regard it as good value for the price they spend.
- Relationships: UNILEVER develops strategic partnerships with its manufacturers , distributors, retailers and other interested parties. This helps it to use them in the future if need be.
Weaknesses in the SWOT Analysis of Unilever – Unilever SWOT Analysis
- Imitable goods-All consumer products are readily imitable and Unilever often has common challenges in coping with these concerns, as most major corporations.
- Limited market diversification-Due to limited diversification of companies outside the consumer products sector, Unilever is poor considering its large product mix.
- Big dependency on retailers- Since customers are directly influenced by the actions of retailers in this sector, there is a weakness of having a direct impact on customers.
- Replacement flexibility and low switching costs-There is virtually zero switching cost for an end-user to select other available substitute items. And these replacement goods are available in abundance, which is one of the drawbacks that makes this argument significant.
Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis of Unilever – Unilever SWOT Analysis
- The rise of emerging countries increases the living conditions of people all over, and is a perfect incentive for Unilever to put the best goods in the right areas. 1) Rising economies need more.
- 2) Growing demand for health-conscious goods-More and more individuals are shifting towards healthier products that are once again an environment for Unilever to pursue.
- 3) Millennial generation and their lifestyle desires-The millennial generation is an extremely significant part of the Unilever group’s consumer market and Unilever will find stronger growth and higher income by reflecting on their desires and catering to them.
- 4) Using social media for advertising-a huge audience is now impacted by social media and it would be more successful at a reduced cost for them if Unilever would divert from TV commercials to social media.
Threats in the SWOT Analysis of Unilever – Unilever SWOT Analysis
- The prevalence of private label brands-Major retail stores come up with their own private label brands and this is a huge challenge because Unilever ‘s company relies heavily on retailers.
- Rivals are no fewer, making it more difficult for rivals such as Nestle, P&G to maintain in the market. With dynamic prices, the constant introduction of new goods is what it takes to combat this hazard.
- Product Imitation-For firms like Unilever, product imitation is still a challenge when it takes millions of expenditures to come up with something new and as soon as someone tries to copy it, it slips into the risk zone.
- Ayurveda products’ increasing popularity-The recent rise in the use of Ayurveda products is a real significant challenge to these commercial firms. With the introduction of the Ayush lever, Unilever has always begun to battle the threat, but it’s still a long way to go.
If you like This Article Please Like our Facebook Page PROJECTS4MBA
Cite This Work
Referencing Style to cite this article:
[citationic]