Carrefour and Unilever help recession-hit shoppers

Strong partnership stimulates growth in Turkey

"Various researches show that one of Turkish shoppers' biggest concerns has been the recent inflation in utility bills. Due to these compulsory payments, they tend to limit shopping," explains Asli Sümer, Customer Marketing Manager for Home Care.

Following the recent shopper trends closely, the team decided to help shoppers save for their utility bills by giving them money off all Unilever brands bought at Carrefour - with a particular focus on home care products.

Save for the Utility Bills was run in all Carrefour stores throughout April. Shoppers participating had the chance to win a Carrefour shopping cheque of up to €1,250 if they bought €15 worth of Unilever homecare products.

"A crucial factor in the campaign's success has been our close partnership with Carrefour in Turkey," continues Asli. "The Save for the Utility Bills concept meshed perfectly with Carrefour's own economy-focused platform, the 'Family Budget Protection Shield', allowing both Carrefour and Unilever to own it 100%."

The campaign has proved so effective that it's grown Unilever's market share by 3%, up to 5% in all home care categories. Yielding a return on investment of 22%, the campaign has driven overall sales growth of 48% in Carrefour hypermarkets and 24% in supermarkets.

The implementation of the campaign involved three main stages. Firstly, the promotion was advertised through carefully selected media, including print, radio, bus boards, SMS, online and direct mail.

The campaign was then rolled out in stores across Turkey, with Carrefour's head office team actively ensuring all stores installed vibrantly-branded shelf-talkers, notice boards, gondolas and other point of sale materials.

Finally, a PR event in Carrefour's flagship Turkish store gave shoppers the chance to share how their needs were changing due to the recession. Turkish media were quick to pick up on the event and report it nationwide