You can sell more units at the same price.
I am going to use Unilever as an example again and I am going to look at what they did in 2009, a very tough year for everyone.
They needed to do something different and decided to go back to the basics with a long-term view with the objective or restoring volume growth while protecting cash flow and underlying operating margin. That did not mean they ignored the short-term challenges - they supported and focused on the brands and invested in R&D and people - the surest route to long-term shareholder value creation.
Volume growth was 2.3% and they saw acclerations throughout the year. Again, driven with a simplier and clearer focus on having sharper execution and stronger innovations that came from their incremental investment support via advertising and some promotion activity. This produces a sales growth of 3.5%.
By the end of 2009 the volume share had grown in two thirds of their business, compared to one third a year earlier. They found that their competitive position had been strengthened during the year. By that, I mean their largest brands were getting stronger - ten of the top thirteen brands were gaining volume share. Good cost discipline meant that the underlying operating margin was up 0.2% to 14.8% and tight working capital control meant cash flow from operating activities increased by one billion dollars.
It all happend because they recognized the severity of the economic crises and responded quickly with some tough choices. The focus on volume growth was important and they kept to protecting their margins and cash flow.
