Chiến lược maketing giữ vững vị trí số 1 của unilever e

“THE MARKETING STRATEGY TO HOLD STEADY THE NUMBER
1 POSITION OF UNILEVER’’

In times of country industrialization and modernization and especially when
Vietnam has officially become a member of World Trade Organization –
WTO, the trade and commerce of goods & services have become more
important and received more attention. Consumers have wider variety of
choices, more opportunities to find the most suitable products at reasonable
prices. OMO – a detergent brand of Unilever group has become popular
among Vietnamese people. It is also known that once the brand has
successfully positioned itself in consumer’s minds, its next goal is to capture
their hearts. This is true when it comes to the case of OMO – the leading
detergent brand in Vietnam market.
In modern society, detergent is a necessity product in every household. The
higher the living conditions are, the higher the needs for better product
increase. In my opinion, Omo has significantly met customers’ expectation
about quality products. It is not easy for a product to sustain its position in the
market and obtain customer’s belief in its quality. Nevertheless, Omo has
managed to do these things. And now, Omo has well positioned its brand in
the market and will do in the future in both Vietnam and overseas markets
1. The strength of the company
- Support from Unilever global group, thus the company has strong
finance


- Effective talent-hunt strategy: the company’s view is “Development
based on People”. Through job fairs for would-be graduate of wellknown universities, the company has selected candidates for
Management Trainee program, which will become key human resource
for the company. Besides, the company also has good remuneration and
rewarding system and provides its employees with internal and abroad
training courses, which help to improve the employee’s knowledge and

skills.
- Unilever Vietnam has always put research and development (R&D)
among its top priority and spent significant investment on that. For a
special instance, R&D is successful in discovering the tradition factor of
shampoo e.g. Gleditsia shampoo and toothpaste e.g. salty tooth paste.
Advanced technology from global Unilever are quickly transferred and
effectively applied.
- Reasonable price whereas the quality is high, not lower than imported
products
- Strong company culture, qualified employees who are highly dedicated
to the company’s objectives. Public relations are among the top priority
of the company

2. The weakness of the company
- Recently, the company has cut its budget due to difficulties in world
economy caused by 11-9 event.
- Key positions in the company are still taken by foreigners.
- There are certain technologies which cannot be applied in Vietnam due
to high costs, thus the company has to import these technologies.


Consequently, the cost is high and the company does not utilize
qualified and plentiful human resource in Vietnam
- Unilever price is still high compared to Vietnamese people’s income,
especially to those living in the rural area
3. Opportunities from external environment
- Vietnamese government’s strategies are to build an economy oriented
by industrialization and modernization, in which calling for foreign
investment, especially investment from multinational and global
company e.g. Unilever to increase government fund is a priority.

- Internal market (retail, wholesale, goods transfer) has developed
dramatically. Infrastructure at big cities, especially Ho Chi Minh City,
has been invested properly, of which the investment level is the same as
that of other countries in the region.
- In times of terrorism, disease, war, Vietnamese politic environment has
been considered stable and ranked as one of the safest country in the
Asia Pacific region, which makes investor more confident when
considering investing in Vietnam.
- Vietnamese people’s awareness are quite high, especially those who live
in the city. The rate of those graduating from university and college is
relatively high compared to that of other countries. Moreover, Vietnam
office workers are excellent in information technology, which brings a
plentiful human resource for the company
- Target customers of many products which Unilever are providing to the
markets are the youth – X generation (those aged from 18 to 29 years
old). This X generation is independent, open-minded and more


confident than the previous generations. They are those who make
decisions for many things, including purchasing household goods.
- Vietnamese is quite open when it comes to religion. Thus, the
distribution and advertising of products are not binding by strict policies
as in many other Asian countries
- Vietnam has young population and extended families i.e. including
grandfather, grandmother, aunt, uncle accounts for the majority of the
families in Vietnam. These are among the target customers of Unilever
- Vietnam is nestled at a good geography location in the area. Vietnam
has a long coastline with many big sea park, which make it convenient
for goods exporting especially when Unilever might expand into
exporting made-in-Vietnam goods to other countries in the near future

- Unilever came to Vietnam when the household goods market was new,
thus the company has great opportunities to do its businesses
4. Threats from external environment
- Vietnam economy growth rate is low
- Vietnam financial market has not fully developed. The security market
is still small and immature. In addition, telecommunication
infrastructure, Internet and telecommunication rate are one of the
highest in the world. Therefore, developing e-commerce is mostly
impossible to Unilver even though the company has mentioned ecommerce as an approach to customers and another way to advertise its
products in other developing countries
- There are still many unfavorable articles for foreign investors in
Commercial law, especially customs policy and high importing tax rate


imposed on “luxury” products e.g. body lotion, shower cream, which
Unilever are selling.
- Vietnamese youth is also under much criticism from the society,
especially the strict elder generation because of the playful and spoiled
lifestyle. There are opinions claiming that it is the transnational
companies has brought the Western lifestyle, which is strange to Asian
countries, especially Vietnam –a country which is still somehow
influenced by the feudalism and rigid hierarchy mindset.
- With Vietnamese government’s policies toward population and birthcontrol, Vietnam will no longer be a country with young population in
the next few decades, which is not a favorable factor for Unilever.
Besides, middle-class families (which is the majority in the proportion
of Vietnamese families), the decision to buy a product, especially a
high-end product is often taken into careful consideration. Therefore,
this customer group do not consume high-end personal-care products as
much as that of the SSWD group (SSWD – Single, Separated,
Widowed, Divorced) in capitalism countries

- Tropical, hot and humid climate is not suitable for those products
originating from the mother company in Europe.
- The supply is bigger than demand in the market for household goods. In
addition, there are many new companies “sneaking” into the market. As
such, these factors creates a stiff competition for Unilever
On the basis of strengths-weaknesses, opportunities-threats, Unilever has
conducted the marketing mix in Vietnam market as the followings
 Distribution Channel


In 1995, when Unilever first entered Vietnam, they built a sales and
distribution channel through out the country, which comprises of over 100,000
points. Unilever applied a new strategy – retail direct sales, in which they
hired direct salesman to introduce new products, deliver the goods and grant
credit for next orders. Retail shops were provided with free displaying
cabinets and in return, their products would be displayed at catchy place in the
retail shops. In addition, the company also supported distributors with loan to
buy transportation vehicles and organized training courses on sales &
management skills.
 Products
The company applied international standards for products sold in Vietnam
market yet modified to make it suit with Vietnamese consumers. They
acquired well-known brand in Vietnam market i.e. Viso detergent and P/S
toothpaste. After that, they improved the formula and redesigned the package
to increase sales for these brands. Besides, the company also did market
research to earn a profound understanding of Vietnamese consumers so that
they can “Vietnamize” their products.
In light of the importance of brand reputation, Unilever has paid special
consideration to eradicate fake product, ensure consumers’s rights, protect
intellectual property rights. Unilever products are now sealed with Authenticproduct seal or Anti-fake-product logo. These signals help customers to

identify between fake and authentic products and give customers peace-ofmind when using Unilever products.
 Advertising
Unilever has 2 main streams in their advertising strategy, which are “Above
the line” and “Below the line”


 Pricing
Being aware of the fact that 80% of Vietnamese consumers live in the rural
area and earn a low income, Unilever listed cut-cost as one of its objectives to
provide consumers with products at reasonable price. The company relied on
local small enterprises to seek for alternative material for imported ones,
which helped reduced input purchasing cost as well as saved for importing
tax.
Besides, the company also organized manufacturing, packaging center in the
North, the Middle and the South to reduce transportation & warehouse costs.
Unilever also applied financial support programs for local enterprises so that
these enterprises can invest in manufacturing equipment. They organized
training on manufacturing and management skills.
 Human Resource
Together with business diversifying, Unilever Vietnam always treats human
resource development as the crucial point for sustainable development,
especially when the economy is moving toward a knowledge-based economy
and biologic-based economy. In order to fully understand Vietnamese
consumers and develop a close-to-the-market system, Unilever has built a
localized professional working team. Unilever strongly focus on training
courses for their employees. It is Unilever’s belief that “development is based
on people”, thus the company pay special attentions to employee benefits. The
company has always been willing to support their employees so that the
employees can fulfill their jobs. Currently, the Vietnamese management team
has replaced key positions which used to be held by expats

 Technology


Technology transfer is carried out concurrently with the transfer of machines
and formula systems as well as assurance of quality and formula analysis.
Unilever managers provide sufficient support to help producers increase
efficiency, improve product quality and product lifecycle.
 Branding
Overall, the time Omo has pursuit the new strategy is not long enough, yet
their achievement can be considered to be successful. They succeeded in
opening their own pathway in Vietnam market as well as succeeded in
improving brand value of a necessity household product. There might be many
other competitors applying Omo’s branding strategy in the future. However,
Omo has the advantage of being the pioneer in the market, and the first
usually leaves a long-lasting impression in consumer’s minds
With the abovementioned marketing strategies, Omo has been the favorite
product of the majority of Vietnamese people over the last decade. In the
future, Unilever will launch many new and special products aiming that these
products will continue to be the favorite ones of Vietnamese families.
5. Pricing strategies
Omo used pricing strategy to penetrate into the market. In the first 5 years,
Unilever kept the same price and constant quality whereas the price of other
similar products went up due to the increase in the price of materials and
petrol. This strategy helped Omo dominate the market
In 2002, the market witnessed the stiff competition in price of Omo and Tide.
The war started when P&G reduced the price for Tide detergent box of 400
gram from VND8,000 to VND6,000. In prompt response, Unilever reduced
the price for Omo detergent box of 500 grams from VND7,500 to VND5,500.
P&G continue to trigger the war by applying a new policy for agents. The

agents would get VND1,000 by displaying a box of Omo. At the same time,
Unilever increased the price by reducing the weight i.e. at the same price of
VND5,500, the consumers could buy only a Omo box of 400 grams instead a
box of 500 grams as they used to. Retail shops and supermarkets were flooded
with Omo. Tide price reduced 30% whereas Omo reduced 26%. And it was
the customers who firstly benefited from this competition. After reducing the
price to the floor level, they increased the price. The war came to an end. The
price got back to the previous level. Omo made itself a popular product among
customer’s mind, thus they were willing to pay even though the price was a
little higher.
6. Conclusion
With these aforementioned marketing strategies, Omo has gradually and
stably positioned its brand in consumer’s minds and takes the lead in Vietnam
detergent market