Wholesale and retail trade: Follow one offering through the chain
Distributors, warehouses and stores moving finished goods from factories to households
Follow one offering through the chain
A bar of HUL soap reaches a kirana
Follow a Hindustan Unilever soap from factory and distributor to an app order, a UPI payment and a neighbourhood shelf.
Made and priced by Hindustan Unilever
₹63,763crHUL turnover, 2025-26Hindustan Unilever turns palm-oil fatty acids, caustic soda, perfume and colour into soap in its own and contract factories, and markets it under 50-plus brands used in nine of ten Indian homes. It reported turnover of ₹63,763 crore in 2025-26, up 5%, with underlying volume growth of 4%, and it sets the price printed on every wrapper.1,2,3
Constraint India imported 7.58 million tonnes of palm oil in 2024-25, so soap costs track Indonesian and Malaysian prices and import duties. PO Palm oilFA Fatty acidsNaOH Caustic sodaF&F Flavours and fragrancesLLDPE Polyethylene (LDPE, LLDPE)Household and personal carePaper and packagingDistributors on weekly beats
9 mn+outlets HUL reachesCartons go to distributors who hold local stock, give shops credit and send salesmen and vans round fixed weekly beats. HUL said in 2023 that it worked with over 3,500 distributors covering about 21 lakh outlets directly; counting shops served through wholesalers, it now says it reaches more than 9 million outlets, each distributor earning a thin margin on high volume.5,4
Constraint Distributors fund stock and shop credit from their own working capital, which caps how far and fast reach can grow. ICV Combustion road vehiclesLLDPE Polyethylene (LDPE, LLDPE)Bld Energy in buildingsTransport and logisticsFinance: banking, insurance, marketsKiranas order on an app
1 mn+stores on Shikhar, end-2022More shopkeepers now order through HUL's Shikhar app instead of waiting for the salesman. By the end of 2022, HUL says, over a million stores had joined, about 60% of them ordered each month, and the app brought in more than 25% of HUL's traditional-trade revenue. B2B platforms such as Udaan and cash-and-carry depots compete for the same kirana orders.5
Constraint App orders still need a distributor to deliver, and in 2022 they were serviced 10 to 15 percentage points less reliably than salesman orders. DC Data centresBld Energy in buildingsSoftware and IT servicesReal estateWarehouses and trucks in between
7.97%India's logistics cost, share of GDPBehind each distributor sit factory warehouses and regional depots, often run by third-party logistics firms that store, pick and truck goods between states. For low-priced packs this cost matters: India's total logistics bill was about ₹24.01 lakh crore, or 7.97% of GDP, in 2023-24, in the first systematic DPIIT-NCAER estimate.6,8
Constraint Nearly 70% of Indian freight goes by road on diesel, so fuel prices and congestion set what each delivery costs. St SteelTm TimberLLDPE Polyethylene (LDPE, LLDPE)ICV Combustion road vehiclesLFP Lithium iron phosphate batteriesTransport and logisticsPaper and packagingReal estatePaid with a UPI scan
241.6bnUPI transactions, 2025-26When a customer buys the bar she often pays by scanning the shop's UPI QR code, and the kirana may pay its distributor the same way. UPI, run by NPCI, carried about 241.6 billion transactions worth ₹314 lakh crore in 2025-26, usually with no fee to the merchant, which has pulled millions of small shops into digital payments.7
Constraint One operator runs UPI, and the zero merchant fee leaves banks and apps little revenue to fund growing volumes. DC Data centresDist Distribution grids, mini-grids and interconnectorsFinance: banking, insurance, marketsComputers and electronicsOn the kirana shelf
$1.09tnIndia's retail market, 2025The bar ends its journey on a family-run kirana shelf, sold singly to regular customers and sometimes on credit. Such shops make up much of a retail market worth about US$ 1.09 trillion in 2025, over 10% of India's GDP and employing more than 35 million people, even as supermarkets and quick-delivery apps chase the same basket.9
Constraint Kiranas run on tiny floor space and thin working capital, and quick-commerce apps target their most frequent purchases. LED Lighting and displaysDist Distribution grids, mini-grids and interconnectorsLLDPE Polyethylene (LDPE, LLDPE)Food and beverage processingHousehold and personal careWhat the chain shows
The chain's strength is reach, not technology: millions of small shops fed by credit-funded distributors, now digitised by apps and UPI.
Sources
- Our company (Hindustan Unilever at a glance) Hindustan Unilever, 2026
- March quarter and financial year 2026 results Hindustan Unilever, 2026
- India's edible oil imports in 2024-25 (Solvent Extractors' Association data, Economic Times/PTI) Malaysian Palm Oil Board (Palm News), 2025
- Investor presentation, 9 September 2026 Hindustan Unilever via NSE, 2026
- How HUL scaled the Shikhar app in 2022 Hindustan Unilever, 2023
- Assessment of Logistics Cost in India (DPIIT-NCAER), summary Press Information Bureau, Government of India, 2025
- UPI transaction value reaches Rs 314 lakh crore in FY26, govt says in Lok Sabha Outlook Money, 2026
- Road to rail: unlocking India's freight potential World Bank, 2025
- Retail infographic, May 2026 India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), 2026