Unilever Says Its Amazon Sales Don’t Add Up To Much

Unilever has revealed that its sales on Amazon are only a small piece of its pie since most of its products sold on the website are priced below $10.

“People are surprised that our Amazon business is only a couple of hundred million,” Unilever Chief Financial Officer Graeme Pitkethly said at the Bernstein conference in London, according to Reuters. He noted that his company generated less than 200 million pounds ($246.32 million) in sales from the eCommerce giant last year.

“No one makes money on Amazon if you sell below $10 … and a lot of our business is in products below $10,” he said.

Late last year, Amazon made moves to get rid of items on its site known as CRaP, which is short for “Can’t Realize a Profit.” In fact,  Unilever-owned Seventh Generation changed its selling strategy after talking with Amazon, said CEO Joey Bergstein, adding that Amazon is “really clear that they have a profitability threshold. We’ve been clear about saying, ‘Let’s make sure what we’re selling is profitable, and we’re not just lining Amazon’s pockets.’”

And earlier this year Unilever tapped an Amazon executive to lead its personal care and beauty businesses.  Sunny Jain, the former head of consumables for Amazon, started his position in June, taking over for Alan Jope, who was promoted to the role of chief executive at Unilever.

Jain was responsible for offerings such as beauty and personal care at Amazon, where he arrived in 2014 after working at Procter & Gamble for 16 years. While at P&G, the executive worked in marketing, business creation, information technology and sales.

Unilever has focused on beauty lines and personal care offerings, which are high in growth. In 2018, the company’s personal care and beauty division comprised 41 percent of group sales. The company also purchased Schmidt’s Naturals, a deodorant company, and invested in Equilibra, a maker of face creams.