Unilever 2015 Annual Report Download - page 13

47%
ncrease n people who know
that Hellmann’s ketchup comes
from natural sources
The top 25 FM companes have
combned sales of about 530 bllon,
competng aganst each other and an
ncreasngly sophstcated set of local
compettors
ONSUMER ONFIDENE
Demand for FM products s affected
by consumer confdence whch reflects
levels of economc growth
In broad terms, consumer demand
remaned weak n 2015, wth market
growth contnung to be subdued n
emergng markets whle showng
some sgns of low-level growth n
North Amerca and Europe
Many emergng markets were ht by local
currency devaluatons versus the US dollar,
drvng up the cost of consumer goods
faster than wage growth A number of these
economes export commodtes and have
also been ht by slowng global demand
In response to devaluatons, nterest rates
n many countres remaned relatvely hgh,
further squeezng ncomes Brazl, n
recesson, and Russa were partcularly ht
Stallng economc growth n hna
undermned the performance of many of ts
South East Asan tradng partners, further
weakenng local currences However, the
hnese de-stockng of 2014 n our markets
was not repeated and growth was seen n
e-commerce and secondary ctes
European markets were charactersed by
small amounts of volume growth cancelled
out by prce deflaton North Amerca
acheved modest overall growth of 1%-2%
n our markets
DIITAL AND EOMMERE
The mpact of dgtal technology contnues
and has now become a manstream factor
determnng success n everythng from
manufacturng to marketng The ndustry
s rapdly adustng to consumers operatng
n a moble, connected world, albet
through fragmented meda – from basc
moble phones and Ps to smartphones,
tablets and TVs
Innovaton, partcularly n marketng,
s a prmary concern as people’s meda
consumpton habts change Dgtal
marketng now drves sales through all
customer channels
E-commerce now commands 2% of
ndustry sales, whle n hna t s already
5%, drven by the growth n companes
such as Albaba’s Taobao and T-Mall In
the US e-commerce s 2% of sales and
n the UK t s around 6%
hangng dgtal habts reflect the adopton
of consumer technology In 2000 there
were 750 mllon moble phones compared
wth 7 bllon today By 2020 there wll be
over 30 bllon connected devces
The boom n vdeo – over 400 hours’ worth
of vdeo content s uploaded to YouTube
every mnute – s vtally mportant n FM
marketng ontent s shared through
socal meda networks and ths forces
greater transparency from corporatons
UNILEVER OPERATES IN THE HIHLY OMPETITIVE
FAST MOVIN ONSUMER OODS SETOR  A
SETOR WHIH IS SUBJET TO AN ARRAY OF LOBAL
PRESSURES AND VOLATILITY
THE HELLMANN’S ROW
WITH US DIITAL AMPAIN
MORE THAN
80 MILLION
INTERATIONS
WITH ONSUMERS
IN ONLY TWO WEEKS
IN MORE THAN
3,500 ITIES
row Wth Us – a dgtal campagn that
opened a Hellmann’s ketchup tomato farm
to consumers va an nteractve lve
streamng platform so they could follow
and partcpate n the next harvest, provng
the brand’s natural qualtes
10 Unilever Annual Report and Accounts 2015Strategic Report
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