By Shefali Kapadia
When Unilever’s new CEO Hein Schumacher took the helm last summer, he was ready to make sweeping changes to the consumer goods giant. One of these actions was reducing the number of SKUs in Unilever’s portfolio.
This process, known as SKU rationalization, eliminates the lowest-margin product versions and sizes to improve profitability and simplify the supply chain.
“We are striving for lower complexity with over 20% reductions in SKUs, raw and packed materials and number of suppliers,” the CEO told analysts and investors during an earnings call early this year.
Analysts predict SKU rationalization, considered a cyclical trend, will continue for several years to come.
SHEFALI KAPADIA 