ENTREPRENEURSHIP INNOVATIVE MANAGEMENT

UNILEVERS LIPTON TEA

PAU/LBS/2010MBA050 PAU/LBS/2010MBA006

5/30/2012

PRODUCT HISTORY Lipton tea has been sold since 1890, when Sir Thomas Lipton created the first version of yellow pack with a red Lipton shield which to this day typifies the Lipton Yellow Label Brand. It is sold in 150 countries worldwide. Lipton Yellow Label is a blend of several types of tea. Lipton Yellow label blend is available both in tea bags, the preferred format in Western Europe, North America, Africa and Australia, as well as packaged tea, the preferred format in much of the Middle East and throughout Asia. Lipton is one of the brands of Unilever Nigeria Plc. It is one of the worlds great refreshment brands making a big splash in the global beverages market with tea that is a healthy and refreshing alternative to soft drinks. Lipton first came to Nigeria in 1959 under the Van Den Bergh Food Company. In 1972 however, Unilever acquired the worldwide Lipton business. Lipton became Unilever Nigerias brand in 1985. The tea blend is imported from Kenya and packaged into teabags in the factory at Agbara in Ogun state in the western part of Nigeria. Lipton is the worlds leading brand of tea. Lipton is the global market leader in both leaf and ready-to-drink tea. BASIC POSITIVE NON-NEGOTIABLE Tea, Caffeine, Hot/Cold beverage, Teabags etc. NEGATIVE TOLERABLE Taste preferably with sugar and milk, DISSATISFIER Inconvenience in draining string teabags NEUTRAL Yellow Label, String teabags ENRANGER No variety of flavours. DISCRIMINATOR DIFFERENTIATOR Aroma, Good taste ENERGISER EXCITER Strong brand Yellow Label

SWOT ANALYSIS OF THE PRODUCT

SWOT analysis includes studying the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats that are being faced by the company in promoting the product in the market. Let us look into the following in detail:

STRENGTHS Lipton itself is a strong brand that promotes the product. Since the name is on the top of the list, it has a strong dominance in the market and gains the maximum share holding overall. The brand name plays an important role in attracting and promoting the product and places a sense of commitment and trust on which the consumers rely upon. Lipton also has gained great amount of money and profits throughout its run and still continues to grab. So, it does not need to worry about the income stability and revenues from the sales.

WEAKNESSES The main weakness that appears to be is the communication problem that might act as the barrier because the brand name Yellow label is absorbed so much in the mind of the consumers that they may find it difficult accepting other variety that do not carry the Yellow appeal. The inconvenience in draining the string teabags when immersed in a cup of hot water is a concern to consumers and a weakness on the part of the brand.

OPPORTUNITIES There are still segments in the market that Lipton has not captured like the tea variety market which are strong competitor. Top Tea has already delved into it.

THREATS The tea business flourishes a lot in the world, thus there are so many competitors of Lipton in the market such as Tapal, Brooke Bond, Tetley, Promasidors Top Tea and many more in the list. Top tea currently has some other variety for its tea brands like lemon, ginger and mint which still falls within the price range of the classic top tea.

Top tea is also affordable quality and is available in a range of convenient packs sizes to suit all pockets namely: 3s, 26s and 100s tagless teabags.

RECOMMENDATIONS The company should make efforts to eliminate the Endangers at all cost. Increase its investments in reducing the Dissatisfiers and manage the Tolerables. Unilever should introduce variety of flavours for the Lipton tea as its direct and major competitor in Nigeria, Promasidor (makers of Top tea) has done. This can potentially provide a huge and new market segment for the Lipton brand. The string teabags is a classic and it has been known with the brand for a long time, however, Unilever should make efforts to introduce other variety of teabags which would be more convenient for consumers. Lipton tea has just one kind of pack size; it should therefore consider the option of having a range of convenient pack sizes to suit different classes of income.