Improvement of the Inventory Management Processes in Unilever Company

Nowadays the market is developing extremely fast as well as the competition between the manufacturing FMCG-companies, therefore companies are investing in new projects, innovative optimization methods, since standard methods to increase net profit and customer loyalty have become inefficient. The FMCG market is especially refitted, since people do not approach everyday goods with such awe and pickiness as wardrobe items, for example. Consequently, customer loyalty can only be supported by unique offers and a high level of service. To achieve this goal, trading companies periodically develop gift packs and other promotional projects. While this category is difficult to predict and extremely unstable, frequently the processes for managing promotional projects are not regulated. And since this category provides companies with a competitive advantage, company leaders strive to pay special attention to the management of the promotional projects. For practical application of the proposed innovations, the company Unilever RUS has been selected. The aim of this work is to identify ways to reduce the costs and risks associated with inventory management while launching gift packs and other promotional projects, to improve the cross-functional cooperation of the supply chain and related departments during the implementation of promotional projects, as well as to optimize the time, that is being spent at various stages of developing a promotional project, by improving inventory management processes in a trading company. The theoretical significance of the study lies in the critical analysis, selection and adaptation of well-known approaches for improving the inventory management system taking into account the characteristics of the company and the specifics of promotional projects, as well as for improving cross-functional logistics cooperation. The practical significance of the study is to propose a structured procedure that will improve inventory management processes during the promotional projects launch using Unilever RUS as an example. The practical application of the recommendations described in this paper will improve the inventory management process in a trading company and reduce the working time that employees spend due to the lack of regulations for cross-functional coordination, which ultimately leads to a more rational and efficient inventory management system within the company.