UNILEVER: MARKETING PLAN

Marketing Plan for an Existing Company

Marketing Plan for an Existing Company

Market expansion is important for the growth of the business. Over the recent years, world economy including that of the United Kingdom has experienced significant downturn affecting businesses' existing markets which subsequently led to the decline in the market share of disparate companies across various industries. This makes this time crucial for all the businesses and prompts them to undertake extensive strategic marketing plan so as to introduce their existing product to a newer wider market, which thereby will set off reduced trade with the existing market whilst increasing the customer base and instilling growth in the business. The company I have chosen to focus upon is Unilever which is known to be among the top businesses of the United Kingdom. But for this viability and sustainability of Unilever to continue, this strategic planning for growing the market is imperative.

Marketing Plan

Unilever

Unilever is known as the FMCG giant in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry. Their product mix portfolio incorporates diverse array of FMCG goods, ranging from foods and beverages to personal and home care products. This is in alignment to the goal of Unilever; which precisely is to add value to the life of people through satisfying their everyday needs. They want to uphold their goal whilst increasing their business globally through reduced environmental impact.

It is through their effective market development strategy that they have transcended beyond their home country successfully and gained significant revenue and customer base through their operations in around more than 170 countries. Research and development is one of the prime enablers of successful ventures of such huge magnitude, considering which Unilever has invested 891 million euros into this function. The region of Asia, Africa and Central & Eastern Europe (AAC) is the most profitable for UK registering turnover of 15 billion euros depicting underlying sales growth of 7.7%. This is followed by the North and South American region which then is followed by the Western Europe region.

Strategic Focus for Market Development

Unilever is known for its flexibility and adaptability of the local cultures in the regions it ops to serve. This strengthens the relationship of Unilever in the local market thereby instilling growth. This strategy of Unilever is complemented by the appeal it creates in terms of needs and the pricing strategy which differs across the countries. The diversity in the organization further eases the process of market expansion to trigger growth through market development of existing products. The process of Continuous Improvement is used to continuously evolve the extensive value chain of Unilever through advancement towards leaner and more responsive consumer-led value chain.

Developing and Emerging markets (D&E) is the main focus of Unilever for the opportunities it posits, which is also reflected in the turnover generated by Unilever in the AAC region along with the underlying sales growth prospect. Unilever is among the early entrants of the D&E market who recognised the true potential of the ...