Unilever drives growth and innovation through customer-centric insights

Facts & figures

Global HQ: London, United Kingdom

Founded: Unilever, 1926

Employees: 128K worldwide

Annual revenue (global): $59.6 billion

Business challenge

Unilever, a multinational consumer packaged goods company, has recently refreshed its purpose, placing real consumers at the center of everything it does: to brighten everyday life for all. The company delivers best-in-class performance through market-making and superior brands. These "power brands" account for the majority of Unilever's growth, thanks to their scalability across markets. As such, power brands are the primary focus of Unilever's strategic growth efforts.

Market penetration - how often products are purchased relative to the total estimated buyer base - is the most critical shopper metric for these brands and underpins every collaborative project with YouGov.
The key challenge lies in consistently monitoring and driving penetration through effective use of the six marketing P’s: proposition, packaging, product, promotion, place, and pricing. Targeted improvements across pack, price, and promotion have already shown positive impact on both brand and category performance at a key Dutch retailer.

Solution

To support its consumer-first growth strategy in the Dutch market, Unilever partnered with YouGov to implement continuous shopper behavioral tracking via SimIT Web, an advanced shopper analytics platform designed to help category managers uncover growth opportunities across retailers, categories, and brands. This real-time view of shopper dynamics allows Unilever to assess brand and category performance effectively and take targeted action when penetration dips. These valuable insights inform decisions across the six P's and guide future growth strategies.

In one of its key categories, Unilever used YouGov Penetration Growth Driver, a modular tool that analyzes penetration metrics and past shopper behaviour, to better understand what attracts and retains buyers. The research uncovered an underserved target group, revealing a clear opportunity to tailor propositions more precisely, leading to sharper, more effective marketing strategies.

In addition, Unilever conducted a deep dive into a key Dutch retail partner to enhance category and brand performance in high-potential growth channels. Using YouGov Why2Buy, a targeted research solution that identifies the drivers behind FMCG purchases using real behavioral data from YouGov's shopper panel, Unilever gained actionable insights into the full shopper journey, including specific perceptions of packaging, pricing, and promotions. This understanding enabled stronger retailer collaboration and more effective communication, ultimately driving significant category growth.

Business outcomes

The partnership with YouGov has played a pivotal role in driving market penetration, a critical contributor to turnover growth, for Unilever’s power brands. By enabling more precise investment decisions across proposition, packaging, product, promotion, place, and pricing, Unilever was able to optimize ROI and unlock the potential for double-digit penetration gains.

Access to real shopper insights has reinforced Unilever’s customer-centric strategy and strengthened its relationships with retail partners, laying the foundation for greater collaboration and mutual business success.