Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Unilever

How do you ensure that Mr. Ramesh in Kanyakumari gets his Lifebuoy soap and Mrs. Kulkarni in Jammu gets to know how Bru coffee tastes even before she has bought it? Well, you need to have a cutting edge distribution network in place.

Hindustan Unilever's distribution network is recognised as one of its key strengths. Its focus is not only to enable easy access to our brands, but also to touch consumers with a three-way convergence - of product availability, brand communication, and higher levels of brand experience.

HUL's products, manufactured across the country, are distributed through a network of about 7,000 redistribution stockists covering about one million retail outlets. The distribution network directly covers the entire urban population.

The general trade comprises grocery stores, chemists, wholesale, kiosks and general stores. Hindustan Unilever services each with a tailor-made mix of services. The emphasis is equally on using stores for direct contact with consumers, as much as is possible through in-store facilitators.


At the supermarkets: Self-service stores and supermarkets are fast emerging in metros and large towns. To service modern retailing outlets in the metros, HUL has set up a full-scale sales organisation, exclusively for this channel. The business system delivers excellent customer service, while driving growth for the company and the store. At the same time, innovative marketing initiatives are taken to provide consumers with experience of our brands at the store itself, through product tests and in-store sampling.


In the villages: HUL has also revamped its sales organisation in the rural markets to fully meet the emerging needs and increased purchasing power of the rural population. The company has brought all markets with populations of below 50,000 under one rural sales organisation. The team comprises an exclusive sales force and exclusive redistribution stockists, under the charge of dedicated managers. The team focuses on building superior availability, while enabling brand building in the deepest interiors. HUL's distribution network in rural India already directly covers about 50,000 villages, reaching about 250 million consumers, through about 6000 sub-stockists.


Harnessing Information Technology: An IT-powered system has been implemented to supply stocks to redistribution stockists on a continuous replenishment basis. The objective is to catalyse HUL's growth by ensuring that the right product is available at the right place in right quantities, in the most cost-effective manner. For this, stockists have been connected with the company through an Internet-based network, called RSNet, for online interaction on orders, despatches, information sharing and monitoring. RS Net covers about 80% of the company's turnover. Today, the sales system gets to know every day what HUL stockists have sold to almost a million outlets across the country. RS Net is part of Project Leap, HUL's end-to-end supply chain, which also includes a back-end system connecting suppliers, all company sites and stretching right upto stockists.

Hindustan Unilever, which once pioneered distribution in India, is today reinventing distribution - creating new channels, and redefining the way current channels are serviced. In the process it is converging product availability, with brand communication and brand experience.

In the end it could be said that HUL's SCM is one of the best in the world and it is quite difficult for any company to challenge it. In India if we see, we will find that LUX is available everywhere and it is through this SCM only that HUL is able to do that. 

Do you know about any company in Indian scenario, which can challenge HUL. Do let me know.