Our Compass strategy - Unilever

for merchandising, displays and packaging
without having to run in-store pilots.
The success in 2009 of our centre in
New Jersey has led us to open similar
state-of-the-art centres in London, Paris,
Singapore, Shanghai and São Paulo.
The concept has been embraced by our
partners. Carrefour, for example, followed
its inaugural visit to our Paris CiiC by
sending country teams to our London,
Shanghai and São Paulo centres where all
experienced the same capabilities tailored
to their own markets. We’ve already
started working together to grow sales
in key categories like hair, health and
beauty, and ice cream.
Meeting retailers’ ambitions
Helping retailers meet their ambitions helps
us meet ours. Walmart, for example, drew
on our deep understanding of the Indian
market prior to entry into the country,
which contributed to an even better
working relationship and understanding
when it began opening its stores there.
Or take Tesco. Operating in markets
across Europe, Asia and North America,
in 2010/11 it once again awarded Unilever
International Supplier of the Year.
The 2010 Advantage International Survey,
the industry standard for measuring
business relationships in fast-moving
consumer goods, showed that our
position has improved in nine out of
15 countries surveyed, while holding
steady in two others. Unilever is ranked
among the top third of suppliers in nine
out of 15 countries – compared to five
out of 14 in 2009.
Be an execution powerhouse
Our progress in market development
and customer satisfaction is encouraging,
but it must be supported by excellence
in execution. The everyday disciplines
of ensuring that we are delivering the
products customers want, in the quantities
they order, at the time they are needed,
have never been more important.
In 2010, we continued to focus on ‘sales
fundamentals’ – company-wide standards
which measure our in-store performance
in key markets. We developed a scorecard
to track progress against these standards
and this has led to sustained improvement
in areas like on-shelf availability and speed
of building distribution for new products.
‘Perfect stores’
Focusing on sales fundamentals has
added momentum to our ‘perfect store’
programme. The programme is based
on the concept that for every variation
in geography and outlet size, from a US
superstore to a small-town independent
in China, there is an optimal merchandising
layout for selling Unilever categories and
brands. We are promoting those ‘perfect’
models to retailers.
In 2010, we enlisted more than a million
stores across the Asia Africa CEE region.
Already, retail outlets enrolled in the
programme have shown faster growth
than their competitors, while those
outlets which have taken on all our
‘perfect store’ recommendations are
growing faster still.
We will extend the ‘perfect store’
programme to developed markets in
Europe and North America.
The 2015 market place
We want to harness the energy from our
progress in customer development, and
in October 2010 we outlined a strategy
for the next five years – identifying the
most significant growth opportunities
across markets, channels and categories.
We believe that implementing this
strategy will accelerate our growth
rates still further.
Report of the Directors About Unilever
This is the way we brush our teeth
In Nigeria, our oral care brand leads the
market. But while it has 84% market
penetration, only 32% of people brush
their teeth twice daily, as dentists
recommend. In 2010, we partnered
with schools and the Nigerian Dental
Association to encourage day and night
brushing – which will lead to healthier
teeth, and healthier revenues.
Fast and flexible – winning in India
Unilever has strong roots in India – a fast-developing market.
Our performance across a broad portfolio illustrates how
we will win in this highly competitive market place:
Dove: From cream bar to leading personal care brand across
skin cleansing, skin care, hair and deodorants in just three
years, Dove quadrupled its turnover between 2007 and 2010.
Tea: By marketing across price segments, re-packaging and
re-sizing faster than ever before, we achieved faster-thanmarket
volume growth, strengthening our leadership.
Expanding footprint: Direct distribution has been a source of
competitive advantage for us, reaching a million stores across
urban and rural markets. In 2010, we expanded this to a
further 630,000 stores covering 110,000 new villages.
Unilever Annual Report and Accounts 2010 15