Paper Details

Name: Jessica Fernandes
Country: India

Year: 2026
Volume: Volume-13, Issue-2, Year-2026 ( July- Dec)
Page Number: 99-111
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23387951

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) sells more than fifty brands across home care, personal care, and food categories in India. In several of these categories most visibly soaps multiple HUL brands compete directly for the same shopper, at similar prices, on the same shelf. This case study examines that internal competition, known in business terms as cannibalization, and asks when it helps HUL and when it hurts it.
The central finding is that internal competition is not, by itself, a problem. It becomes a problem only when it is unplanned when it happens by accident because pricing, promotions, or brand positioning across sister brands are not coordinated. When it is planned used deliberately to occupy a market segment before a competitor can internal competition is one of HUL's most effective defensive tools.
This study traces HUL's history and structure, explains why India's scale and diversity make a wide brand portfolio commercially rational, and examines two real brand pairings in detail: Dove and Pears, and Lux and Dove, as examples of managed, planned overlap; and Lifebuoy and Hamam, as an example of how HUL actively works to prevent overlap from becoming unplanned and value-destroying. It closes with a set of practical recommendations that apply to HUL and to any company managing several brands within one category.

Keywords- Product Cannibalization, Product Portfolio, HUL