BCG MATRIX OF UNILEVER

Unilever has been there for over a century, since 1872. The brand mostly

produces products of personal care, cleaning agents, personal care and beverages.

Throughout its journey it has faced ups and downs and have released products that have not been

acclaimed as well as the others. Every company is evaluated on the basis of certain scales or

meters, BCG matrix is one like that. The Boston Consulting Group help corporations to analyze

their business units, that is, their product lines. This helps the company allocate resources and is

used as an analytical tool in brand marketing, product management, strategic management, and

portfolio analysis.

 STARS

The ‘stars’ products for Unilever is Sunsilk hair care, Lux body soap, Wall’s, Fair and

Lovely, Rafhan and Energile. Most of them are on the personal care segment because its market

share is growing every year and mentioned division generate highest chunk of revenue for the

company.  They are graduated question marks with a market or niche-leading trajectory and units

with a high market share in a fast-growing industry. They require high funding to compete with

rival companies and maintain their growth rate. At a point when industry growth slows down, if

they remain a niche leader or are one of the market leaders, star products become cash cows;

otherwise, they turn into dogs due to low relative market share.
  QUESTION MARK

The ‘question marks’ are products that have a low market share in a high-growth market. It

generally takes place at starting point for most businesses. Unilever has produced certain

products such as Wheel, Supreme tea and Lifebuoy shampoo. These are declining every year,

despite of high industry sales growth rate. Question marks have a potential to gain high market

share and eventually become star products, and then further turn into cash cows when market

growth slows.

 CASH COW

The ‘cash cows’, i.e. the products that ‘milk’ high amount of cash despite the slow growth of

the industry itself. The investment in these products is the least, still they tend to generate cash.

In case of Unilever, products like Surf Excel washing powder, Lifebuoy soaps, Ponds cream,

Lipton iced, Close Up toothpaste, Blue Band margarines and finally Knorr soups that held the

market strongly for Unilever. These products have high market share in low growth industry and

have witnesses decline in sales. Such products are crucial for the company and plays a vital role

in the sustenance of company.