How Unilever Is Tackling Excess Inventory With Pricing Intelligence
Unilever is tackling the challenge of excess and aging inventory, investing in technology that streamlines processes to embrace a sustainable, circular approach to lengthening shelf life.
The company is working with Spoiler Alert on the effort, launching a multi-year strategy that began in early 2023 and leveraging a digital discounting and pricing intelligence platform that helps redirect discontinued products and other excess inventory to value-chain retailers across the United States.
The company has already seen results over 10 months, reporting improved sales for sluggish inventory and an expedited process to get these items to market for an expanded shelf life. The approach required streamlining discount processes and cycle times across five parts of Unilever’s business, including grocery, food service, professional, international, and discount channels.
The technology helps identify discount channels with optimized pricing where Unilever products would most benefit, particularly those that have more flexible merchandising and assortment capabilities.
George Hamilton, SVP, sales strategy and operations at Unilever U.S, said the company takes “great pride in keeping these products in-market and in a way that reinforces our corporate commitments to lowering the climate impacts of our supply chain."
According to Cognizant, investing in tech around an RGM strategy that focuses on pricing, promotions, and retailer relationships is a core area of focus for CPGs.
Unilever’s recent jump into pricing intelligence marks continued progress for a company that has been investing significantly in inventory optimization over the past few years. In 2022, the company reported it was leveraging machine learning and advanced analytics as part of its SKU rationalization process to boost on-shelf availability.
The company has also been working to identify opportunities and challenges at the source. Last year, Unilever spoke about its “command center,” from which it has a 360-degree view of its supply chain, tapping satellite imagery, data storage, and machine learning to monitor mills, landscapes, and farms to alleviate any bottlenecks and create enterprise-wide efficiencies.
Unilever’s latest tech advancements within artificial intelligence could prove extremely beneficial across inventory management as well. The company launched a global lab in Toronto that will focus on forecasting and modeling data relationships using graph technology. The tech will help spot trends with social listening and translate complex consumer insights into easy to act on visual representations.
Tech Transformation: Unilever Talks Decision Intelligence
Listen to learn:
- The challenges decision intelligence can solve
- Where it fits into Unilever’s complex and innovative supply chain
- How Unilever drives and grows user adoption and measures value of its use
- Where the CPG stands out when it comes to its adoption and scaling of decision intelligence
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