Unilever redesigns European homecare supply chain

Unilever is spending more than €150 million to overhaul the supply chain of its European homecare division. By doing so, the multinational aims to resolve years of underperformance in this area. The company is also focusing more on young consumers with new product launches, according to Reuters news agency.

Unilever’s intended improvements to its homecare operations in Europe include building factories, and adding warehouses and new production lines to existing facilities. The project started in early 2023 and will not be completed until 2026. The homecare division is  best known in Europe for detergent brands such as Persil and Omo, as well as Comfort fabric softener.

The supply chain news comes a few months after it was announced that the multinational wants to cut a third of all office jobs in Europe by the end of 2025. This move is designed to rekindle growth. The European homecare division would also like to increase spending on marketing and research & development by 40%. However, the exact amount was not disclosed.

Lack of investment in Europe

‘We are completely redesigning our supply chain in Europe,’ Eduardo Campanella, head of Unilever’s global homecare business, told Reuters news agency. He said the changes will help Unilever invest in better products, in-store promotions and a new marketing strategy. ‘We did not invest well in Europe because we were not aware of the developments,’ Campanella explained.

Meanwhile, the new strategy deployed last year has helped the group ‘adapt to some extent,’ said the Unilever boss. The homecare business worldwide currently shows underlying sales growth of 3.3% in the first half of this year. According to Campanella, the European division achieved almost 13% growth in that period, about two-thirds of which was due to volume growth. According to Euromonitor International, this means Unilever is growing faster than the rest of the market.

Source: Reuters