The company behind Persil, PG Tips and Flora said it will apply lessons from its Asian business as consumers change their shopping habits amid a financial crisis that has left Greece mired in recession for the past five years and Spain with the highest unemployment rate in the industrialised world.
"Poverty is returning to Europe," Jan Zijderveld, the head of Unilever's European business told the Financial Times Deutschland in an interview.
"If a consumer in Spain only spends €17 when they go shopping, then I'm not going to be able to sell them washing powder for half of their budget."
Unilever has already started to change the way it sells some of its products. In Spain, the company sells Surf detergent in packages for as few as five washes, while in Greece, it now offers mashed potatoes and mayonnaise in small packages, and has created a low-cost brand for basic goods such as tea and olive oil.
"In Indonesia, we sell individual packs of shampoo 2 to 3 cents and still make decent money," said Mr Zijderveld. "We know how to do that, but in Europe we have forgotten in the years before the crisis."
Unilever said last month that "continued sluggish economies and fragile consumer confidence had hampered growth" in developed markets. European revenues grew by just 0.2pc in the second quarter, compared with growth of 16pc in Asia and other emerging economies, the company said.
Mr Zijderveld also said that in order to drive growth, better products would need to be matched by better in-store service. Using the example of Apple, he said: "In an Apple store, everyone thinks: Wow, what an experience."
"But in some supermarkets in Europe, you think: half empty shelves, boxes on the floor, not a sales person in sight - how terrible is that?"
"Why can't we sell food like Apple sells devices? Why are there no genius consultants for chicken?"
The Telegraph
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