Surge in Unilever’s deodorant sales after workers return to office

Workers returning to the office and socialising after pandemic lockdowns helped lead to a 15 per cent surge in sales of deodorants, according to the maker of Dove, Rexona and Impulse.

Unilever said the shift away from home working and expansion in Latin America had helped offset heavy competition from expensive new brands in the US such as Native and Dr Squatch.

Graeme Pitkethly, the group’s finance director, said: “Many people didn’t use deodorant as much when they were in lockdown and working from home and some recovery in that is coming through.”

The recovery in deodorant sales helped Unilever’s personal care division outperform the rest of its product categories in Europe making it the only one to increase the amount of items sold. The total volume of products sold by Unilever in the continent slumped 10 per cent, which the consumer goods company compensated for with a 13 per cent increase in prices – rises that have prompted accusations of profiteering and so-called greedflation.

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Sales of ice cream, such as Ben & Jerry’s and Magnums, were hit by the cool, wet summer and competition from supermarket own-label items as Unilever increased prices.

Worldwide, Unilever, which owns a vast array of brands from Marmite to Domestos, said total underlying sales rose 5.2 per cent to €15.2 billion, led by price rises of 5.8 per cent, while the number of items sold dipped 0.6 per cent.

However, Hein Schumacher, the chief executive of Unilever, said the company had not increased its profit margins as it had not passed on all its cost increases to its customers.

Mr Schumacher, who joined Unilever in July amid shareholder dissatisfaction with the pace of growth after a failed pursuit of GlaxoSmithKline’s consumer products division, said the pace of inflation was “continuing to moderate” but suggested there could be more to come. – Guardian Service