News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Unilever threatens to pull its ads from Facebook and Google over 'toxic content'. Parent comment

Re:Unilever threatens to pull its ads from Facebook and Goog... by ucaetano on Monday February 12, 2018 @06:34PM (#16363402)
There are massive economies of scale in ingredient sourcing, supply chain management, production, marketing, advertising and product placement with very high minimum efficient scales for global consumer goods products.

It is inevitable that the global consumer goods industry consolidates into a handful of large groups as has happened, and the outcome is lower prices to consumers.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Unilever threatens to pull its ads from Facebook and Goog... by JumpCrisscross on Monday February 12, 2018 @06:42PM (#16363442)
> It is inevitable that the global consumer goods industry consolidates

CPG companies are distribution and marketing powerhouses. They rose with supermarkets and mass media. The rise of voice-based ordering, as well as shops like Amazon, fundamentally threatens their business model.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Unilever threatens to pull its ads from Facebook and Goog... by ucaetano on Monday February 12, 2018 @06:45PM (#16363467)
Indeed, the same factors that led to their success (global supply chains, standard ingredients and manufacturing processes) eventually could make the irrelevant, as the brands become irrelevant.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Unilever threatens to pull its ads from Facebook and Goog... by rndmize on Monday February 12, 2018 @06:48PM (#16363486)
> ...and the outcome is lower prices to consumers.

Not totally sold on that part.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Unilever threatens to pull its ads from Facebook and Goog... by ucaetano on Monday February 12, 2018 @07:09PM (#16363614)
Oh, it does, by lowering the production cost of the products, which allows competition to drive prices lower.

Unless, of course, the market turns into a monopoly. But even in oligopoly markets (such as the cola/soda) there is still plenty of choice, especially around lower cost products and with the rise of white-label/home-brand products.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Unilever threatens to pull its ads from Facebook and Goog... by hueving on Monday February 12, 2018 @07:25PM (#16363706)
If the prices were higher, it would be trivial for local businesses to displace them in stores.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Unilever threatens to pull its ads from Facebook and Goog... by ElmntOfSurprise on Tuesday February 13, 2018 @05:02AM (#16366002)
Just the threat that a big company has the capacity to lower prices drastically can keep small companies from entering a market.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Unilever threatens to pull its ads from Facebook and Goog... by ucaetano on Tuesday February 13, 2018 @11:28AM (#16368343)
In some cases, yes, but take a look at your local supermarket and see how many new brands not owned by the large ones popped up in the past few years.

You can also look at how much the large ones are buying local new brands (such as Blue Bottle). Tastes change, and small local companies are a great way for the big ones to figure out which new products work.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Unilever threatens to pull its ads from Facebook and Goog... by s73v3r_ on Tuesday February 13, 2018 @01:55AM (#16365254)
Not really, given that there can be high barriers to entry in getting on store shelves in the first place.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Unilever threatens to pull its ads from Facebook and Goog... by hueving on Tuesday February 13, 2018 @05:15PM (#16371331)
Not really, I've seen many grocery stores have sections dedicated specifically to local stuff because of the whole 'local' movement.
[ Parent | on HN ]