Unilever Bangladesh

Executive Summary

Our project was aimed at studying the marketing mix of products marketed by Nestlé there by understanding the concept of 4P's better. It details how Nestle has marketed its products. Nestlé has divided its product portfolio into four different segments, namely-

Milk Products and Nutrition,

Chocolates and Confectionery,

Beverages, and

Maggi (noodles, soups and ketchups).

Separate marketing mixes have been developed for these four different segments. The pricing, promotion techniques used and place of marketing and of course the product of one segment are very different from products of another segment.

Apart from the secondary research from newspapers, journals and the inter-net, we have interacted with some officials concerned with these things, present at Nestlé Bangladesh. All this has helped us in our extensive study of the marketing mix of various Nestlé products.

1. Company profile:

Nestlé is the world's largest food company involved in nearly every field of nutrition, with a turnover of 88 billion Swiss Francs. its headquarters is in Vevey, Switzerland.

It's sales in 2006 was CHF 98.5 billion. It's organic growth in 2006 was 6.2% whereas real internal growth was 4.7%. Until half yearly closing it's organic growth in 2007 was 7.2% whereas real internal growth was 5.3%. It became world's largest food company in 2006 followed by PepsiCo, Kraft Foods, Unilever, Coca-cola and others.

2006 2005

Sales 98'458 91'115

EBIT 13'302 11'876

Net Profit 9'197 8'081

Organic Growth 6.2% 6.2%

RealInternal Growth 4.7% 4.2%

Jan.-June 2007 Jan.-June 2006

Sales 51'114 47'158

EBIT 6'919 6'060

Net Profit 4'916 4'151

Organic Growth 7.4%

RealInternal Growth 5.3%

Figure 1: Sales chart of leading multinationals of the world in 2006

It is largest not only in terms of its sales but also in terms of its product range and its geographical presence. Its product range includes infant formula, milk products, chocolate and confectionery, instant coffee, ice-cream, culinary products, frozen ready-made meals, mineral water etc. Nestlé is also major producer of pet food. Nestle is currently operating in 87 countries with 100 operating companies and 468 factories with total 265'000 employees worldwide. It has over 6000 brands and total 10000 products. Among them some are global brands, some are regional and some are local brands.

Most popular brands of Nestlé are Nescafe, Nido, Maggi, Polo, Smarties, Milo, Perrier, Friskies, Kit Kat, and Crunch. Some of their products have broken records: 3,000 cups of Nescafe are consumed every second, and Kit Kat merited an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's best selling chocolate bar, with 418 Kit Kat fingers eaten every second around the world.

2.1. Historical Background of the company:

In 1867 Henri Nestlé, a chemist from Frankfurt who had settled in Vevey, became interested in infant feeding. To satisfy a clear need, he developed and produced a milk-based food for babies whose mothers could not nurse them. The new product soon became well- known worldwide under the name of "Farine Lactee Nestlé "(Nestlé Milk Food).

In order to expand into a broader product category and meet more people's needs, the Nestlé Company's first diversification occurred in 1905 when it merged with the Anglo- Swiss Condensed Milk Company (est.1866). Still today, processing milk food is still the company's chief activity together with the other products

2.2. Historical development:

1866-1904 Company's foundation

1905-1918 Merger between Nestlé and Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company

1918-1938 In 1920s Nestlé's first expansion into new products with chocolate,the Company's second most important activity.

In 1929, Nestlé and Peter-Cailler-Kohler Chocolats Suisses S.A merged.

1938-1944 The introduction of the Company's newest product, Nescafe.

1944-1975 In 1947 came the merger with Maggi seasonings and soups. Crosse & Blackwell followed in 1950, as did Findus (1963), Libby's (1971) and Stouffer's (1973). Diversification came with a shareholding in L'Oreal in 1974.

1975-1981 Nestlé made its second venture outside the food industry by acquiring Alcon Laboratories Inc.

1981-1996 In 1984, Nestlé's improved bottom line allowed the Company to launch a new round of acquisitions, the most important being American food giant Carnation. In 1988, Nestlé acquired Buitoni-Perugina (Italy) and Rowntree (GB). In 1992, Nestlé acquired Perrier (France). In 1995, Nestlé acquired Victor Schmidt & Sohne, Austria's oldest producer of confectionery, including the famous 'Mozartkugeln'.

1996--2007 Since 1996 there have been acquisitions including San Pellegrino (1997), Spillers Pet foods (1998), Power Bar (2000) and Ralston Purina (2002). There were two major acquisitions in North America, both in 2002: in July, Nestlé merged its U.S. ice cream business into Dreyer's, and in August, a USD 2.6bn acquisition was announced of Chef America, Inc. In 1999, Nestlé also took the decision to divest the Findus brand in order to concentrate on high added-value frozen food products. In 1998, Nestle launched Nestle Pure Life bottled water and in 200 it lunched Nestle Aquarel. In 2006 Nestle made acquisition of Uncle Tobys, Jenny Craigs and Novartis Medical Nutrition. And last in 2007, it made acquisition of Gerber (Baby Food).

3. Market offerings:

Nestle fulfilled global consumer's