Personal care giant Unilever has retained its position as the best supply chain in Europe for the third year running, in the annual Top 15 Ranking of companies in Europe by Gartner. 

 The consumer goods company has pipped fashion brands Inditex and H&M to post once again, who held the second and third spots respectively. The top three rankings were unchanged from the previous year, with Unilever having held the top spot since 2012. 

Stan Aronow, Research Vice President at Gartner, said, “The top three companies remain unchanged from last year, because they continued to demonstrate market-leading supply chain capabilities.” 

According to Gartner the top companies were chosen based on a combination of financial performance. This included revenue growth, return on assets and inventory and also the opinion of peers and Gartner supply chain analysts. He continued that the top European supply chain organizations shared traits such as having a global scale but being able to respond to local markets, multiple models through segmentation, collaboration, digital experimentation, having a culture of excellence and change, sustainability and investment in talent and technology. 

Aronow continued, “When assessing the supply chain rankings for 2015, we identified some common practices and challenges experienced by leading supply chain organisations in Europe. A willingness to invest in and experiment with technology and digital business models has given the top companies an edge in terms of collaboration, enhanced segmentation and local responsiveness.” 

Other cosmetic or personal care companies that made up the top 10 included L’Oreal at number five, Reckitt Benckiser at number seven, with chemicals company BASF coming in at numnber 11.