Don’t mess with the price of Marmite in the United Kingdom.
That’s the lesson that Unilever will learn from its latest dustup with the country’s largest retailer, Tesco.
On Wednesday, the company removed all Unilever products from its website after the Marmite maker called for a 10 percent hike on all of its products. Unilever blamed the pound’s falling value, which can be attributed to this past summer’s Brexit vote.
British journalists are casting Unilever as the villain. Many are referring to its owners as “greedy Marmite bosses” and calling their request for a price hike a “great Marmite scam.”
On Thursday, separate statements from each company acknowledged that the issue had been resolved.
From Unilever:
Unilever is pleased to confirm that the supply situation with Tesco in the UK and Ireland has now been successfully resolved. We have been working together closely to reach this resolution and ensure our much-loved brands are once again fully available. For all those that missed us, thanks for all the love.
Tesco’s statement reads:
We always put our customers first and we're pleased this situation has been resolved to our satisfaction.
In terms of branding, social media and the importance of consumer satisfaction in the marketplace, it was a rare and notable event.
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The Wall Street Journal explains:
The standoff, while brief, was an unusually public fight for Britain’s typically button-down corporate world. It pitted two of the country’s biggest business titans—and two of the world’s biggest companies, for that matter—against each other in a duel that was splashed across British papers on Thursday. The feud was trending on social media as #marmitegate, named for the dark, salty spread that has a cult following here and is made by Unilever.
Consumers are hailing Tesco as a consumer hero for not allowing the price hike.
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