How HUL Enhanced Real-World Impact While Protecting Existing Partnerships
Background
Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is one of India’s largest FMCG companies, operating across beauty, personal care, home care, and nutrition. Lakmé, one of its flagship beauty brands, is a leading cosmetics and salon brand in India with strong equity in premium makeup and skincare. As competition intensified in retail, HUL aimed to strengthen Lakmé’s shelf prominence across high potential general trade stores and premium salons that attract affluent footfall.
Challenge
HUL wanted to increase Lakmé’s visibility in outlets that drove premium traffic without disrupting existing distributor relationships or oversaturating already dense markets. The team needed to identify underserved yet high potential locations while protecting ongoing brand initiatives. They also required clarity on two critical variables: the real distance customers traveled to reach GT stores and salons, and which outlets were overperforming or underperforming based on actual footfall behavior rather than assumptions.
Approach
SherlockAI deployed its Locate solution to analyze HUL’s GT stores and salon network using multiple deterministic data layers including footfall intensity, population density, wellbeing index, prosperity index, and visitation patterns. Leveraging SherlockAI’s POI taxonomy, the team ranked outlets based on true offline demand signals and premium consumer movement. This enabled HUL to identify stores with strong audience quality but weak Lakmé shelf visibility, as well as outlets where incremental placement would drive disproportionate brand impact.
One notable insight surfaced at Memsaab in Andheri West, a high footfall and digitally active retail environment with a premium customer base. Despite strong engagement signals, Lakmé’s in store presence was limited, revealing a clear opportunity for corrective action.
Solution
Using SherlockAI’s insights, HUL optimized Lakmé’s product placement strategy and strengthened shelf visibility in priority premium outlets. This led to stronger brand recall and improved conversions in high traffic stores while maintaining channel balance and protecting existing partnerships. The initiative enhanced real-world impact without disrupting broader brand strategy, creating a scalable framework for retail prioritization going forward.
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