Marketing Mix Of Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) and 4Ps (Updated 2024)

The Marketing mix of Hindustan Unilever analyses the 4Ps of Hindustan Unilever, including the Product, Price, Place, and Promotions. Hindustan Unilever Limited is an Indian-origin consumer goods subsidiary of its British parent company, Unilever Plc. It was established as Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing Co. and was renamed for the last time in 2007 as Hindustan Unilever Limited. In 2018, HUL merged with GlaxoSmithKline or GSK Consumer Healthcare business of India, completed by April 2020.

Hindustan Unilever is the largest fast-moving consumer goods company in the Indian market. It is the sole brand that can boast of being a market leader in the coffee category in the industry, as nine out of ten households use one or more of the company’s products in India.

An Introduction to Hindustan Unilever Limited

#Hindustan Unilever Limited

• Origin Country: India
• Parent Company: Unilever Plc (61.90%)
• Founded: 1933
• Headquarters: Mumbai, India
• Employees: 21,000
• Annual Revenue in 2023: 6.6 billion USD
• Net Income in 2023: 1.1 billion USD
• Market Value in 2023: 76.085 billion USD
• Market Cap in 2023: 77.73 billion USD
• Company Website: www.hul.co.in

Hindustan Unilever Limited Product Strategy

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is one of India’s largest Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) companies, with a diverse product portfolio encompassing various segments.

The new Product Mix of HUL in 2024 is as follows (Source).

1. Home Care: Laundry detergents: Surf Excel, Rin, Wheel; Household cleaners: Domex, Cif; Dishwashing: Vim
2. Beauty & Personal Care: Skin cleansing: Lux, Lifebuoy, Dove, Pears, Lever Ayush; Skincare: Pond’s, Vaseline, Lakmé; Hair care: Clinic Plus, Dove, Sunsilk, TRESemmé, Indulekha; Oral care: Pepsodent, Closeup; Deodorants: Axe, Rexona; Men’s grooming: Fair & Lovely Men (now Glow & Handsome), Vaseline Men
3. Foods & Refreshments: Tea: Brooke Bond Red Label, Taj Mahal, Lipton; Coffee: Bru; Ice cream and frozen desserts: Kwality Wall’s; Foods: Kissan (Jams, ketchup, squashes), Knorr (Soups, meal makers), Hellmann’s (Mayonnaise); Water purifier: Pureit
4. Health & Well-being: Health food drinks: Horlicks, Boost

Hindustan Unilever Limited Pricing Strategy

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) employs a nuanced and multi-faceted pricing strategy that reflects its market leadership position in India’s Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector. The company’s pricing strategy is designed to cater to a diverse and price-sensitive target market, ensuring competitiveness, accessibility, and value creation for consumers across various segments. Here are the critical components of HUL’s pricing strategy:

1. Market Penetration Pricing: HUL often adopts penetration pricing for new product launches to gain market share quickly. This involves setting lower prices to attract consumers, making it an effective tactic in the highly competitive FMCG sector.
2. Value-Based Pricing: HUL focuses on offering value to its customers through high-quality products. Prices are set based on the perceived value of the product by the consumer rather than solely on production costs, ensuring premium products can command higher price points.
3. Product Line Pricing: The company employs product line pricing to offer various products at different price points within the same category. This strategy caters to the varied economic backgrounds of Indian consumers, allowing HUL to capture a broader market base.
4. Psychological Pricing: HUL uses psychological pricing tactics to make products more attractive. For instance, pricing products just below a whole number (e.g., Rs. 99 instead of Rs. 100) can make them appear more affordable.
5. Competitive Pricing: Given the intense competition in the FMCG market, HUL often sets prices compared to competitors. The company ensures its products are competitively priced to retain market share while ensuring profitability.
6. Dynamic Pricing: HUL adapts its pricing strategy based on market conditions, costs, consumer demand, and competitor actions. This flexibility allows the company to respond quickly to market changes.
7. Promotional Pricing: The company also uses promotional pricing strategies, including discounts, offers, and bundled pricing, to boost sales volumes, especially during festivals, seasonal peaks, and new launches.
8. Premium Pricing for Niche Segments: For products that cater to niche markets or offer unique benefits (such as organic ingredients or advanced technology), HUL employs premium pricing to reflect the higher value proposition to targeted consumer segments.
9. Cost-Plus Pricing: In some cases, especially for staple products with high volume turnover, HUL uses a cost-plus pricing method, ensuring a standard markup on the cost of goods sold to maintain profitability.
10. Skimming Strategy for Innovations: HUL sometimes uses a price skimming strategy for highly innovative or first-to-market products, setting initial high prices to recover R&D costs before adjusting to more competitive pricing levels.

Hindustan Unilever Limited Place Strategy

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) employs a comprehensive place (distribution) strategy to ensure its vast array of products reaches consumers across India’s diverse and expansive market. Here are five critical aspects of HUL Unilever’s product place strategy:

1. Extensive Distribution Network: HUL has one of the most extensive distribution networks among FMCG companies in India, reaching urban and rural consumers alike. This network includes distributors and sub-stockists, ensuring product availability even in the most remote locations.
2. Leveraging Technology for Efficiency: The company leverages advanced technology and data analytics to optimize its supply chain and distribution processes. This approach helps forecast, manage, and reduce, ensuring delivery of products.
3. Multi-Channel Distribution Approach: HUL utilizes a multi-channel distribution strategy that includes traditional trade channels, modern trade outlets (like supermarkets and hypermarkets), and direct-to-consumer (D2C) channels through e-commerce platforms. This diversified approach allows HUL to cater to the preferences of different consumer segments.
4. Rural Market Penetration: Recognizing the growth potential in rural markets, HUL has implemented specific initiatives (like Project Shakti) to deepen its penetration in these areas. This involves empowering rural women by involving them in the distribution process, thereby creating a symbiotic growth model.
5. Sustainability in Supply Chain: HUL is committed to sustainability throughout its supply chain, from sourcing raw materials to the final distribution of products. The company focuses on reducing carbon footprint, water usage, and waste generation, ensuring an eco-friendly distribution process.

Hindustan Unilever Limited Promotion Strategy

The promotion strategy in the marketing and consumer goods business mix of Hindustan Unilever focuses on extensive brand promotions through effective marketing of the company’s products.

Unilever’s promotional channels include:

Traditional Media

Unilever’s mix and promotional marketing strategies put the onus on using traditional media to advertise its products. These include making popular commercials and displaying them through TV, radio, newspaper ads, magazines, hoardings, and leaflets so that they can reach every nook and corner of the country.

Social Media Platforms

HUL realizes that social media platforms are the best promotion channels in the urban market, and the innovative company has created an inclusive online presence as part of Unilever’s promotion marketing strategy.

Promotional Events

The consumer goods company has implemented an innovative marketing strategy for brand promotions. It keeps on organizing promotional events where essential products like toilet cleaners, soaps, and sanitizers are distributed free of cost to people of low-income groups.

Celebrity Endorsements

HUL has tied up with celebrities like Kajol Devgn, Varun Dhawan, and Shahrukh Khan in the consumer goods industry to create brand awareness in the consumer market.

Sustainable Development

Hindustan Unilever’s marketing mix is framed to encourage the practice of sustainable living and create a positive social impact in every nook and corner of India, be it urban or rural India, through the Sustainable Living Plan, which was launched by HUL in 2010 in New Delhi, New York, Rotterdam, and London simultaneously.

Some Recent Video ads and Print ads for HUL are:

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