Unilever Heads to the Cloud for Trade, Sales Activity

Unilever has signed a deal with Accenture to implement the company's cloud-based trade promotion management and retail execution solutions to create a single system for trade and marketing operations.

Built on the Salesforce platform, the cloud solutions combine Accenture’s front-office consumer goods industry expertise with Salesforce’s CRM solution for built-in cloud, mobile, social, data science and artificial intelligence capabilities. By moving to the cloud, Unilever expects to integrate its mobile applications, unify its front and back-office information, and enhance its trade and sales activities.

The packaged goods maker has also selected the Accenture NewsPage solution to simultaneously build a single system for managing its third-party distributor network.

“This agreement is a strategic decision based on the skills and capabilities Accenture and Salesforce have in the technology and digital arena, as well as a long track record of successful partnership.” said Gonzalo Esposto, Unilever's global IT vice president. “We hold a leading position in the marketplace across the majority of our 400 brands, and enhancing our trade and sales activities will help us strengthen this position."

"In addition, the implementation of Accenture Cloud will help us close the loop between planning and execution to drive sales and improve customer loyalty and bring our IT costs down,” Esposto said.

Unilever ranks 5th on CGT's list of Top 100 Consumer Goods Companies for 2016 with $58.2 billion in revenue.