It's all about, as I said, I'm excited to be here today and talk you through where we are on our strategic journey on North America, and more specifically in the U.S. Let's start with the team, because fundamentally, obviously the big part is about the quality of the management team, making sure that we perform. This is the U.S. leadership team. You've seen many of them, either yesterday or last night during the dinner, or today, where actually in the rotations, you will meet several of them. In the rotations, you will also meet people who are reporting into the U.S. leadership team. When you look at this chart, what you see is actually a very diverse team.
We strongly believe is that diverse teams, they perform better, and therefore, we believe that this team actually is a superior leadership team here in running Unilever in the U.S. Diversity, both through the lens of style, of background, and of nationality. Two-thirds of them are American, one-third of them are from international, other countries. It is obviously, also a diverse team in terms of gender. One-third is female, two-thirds not so. Still job to be done, because clearly we need to be gender balanced. At the same time, what we believe is that people with purpose, that they thrive. That is actually, if you look at this leadership team, they're purpose-driven leaders.
That's one of the reasons actually why Esi Eggleston Bracey, she actually joins on the 1st of January as our EVP and our Chief Operating Officer for Personal Care, North America. She's a renowned talent in the beauty industry, and she has over 25 years of experience in personal care. It's great to have her as part of our leadership team. With that, let's talk about the business. As you know, this business is a $9 billion business, and it is the cluster which is both about the U.S. and it is about Canada. We run it as one cluster, but two countries, because Canada is specifically different. We have a Canadian leadership team. We have a Unilever Canada strategy, and for that, this is definitely not the 51st state of the U.S.
At the same time, today's focus is all about the U.S., that's 90% of the total cluster, for today's presentation, it is a USA only presentation. If we think about the U.S., 14% of the Unilever globally is Unilever USA. It is 15% of the profit and it is 19% of the cash. Absolute significant part of our business. When you look at it through the categories, because fundamentally we don't have a real sizable home care business, as you know, that means is that actually over 20% of our global personal care business is here in the USA. The logic about winning globally in personal care, it has to win here in America. The same applies for our refreshment business. Five of our global €1 billion brands actually are born in the U.S., from Dove to Lipton to Hellmann's, to TRESemmé to Vaseline.
If we look at it through the lens of the categories, it's to the closest billion, EUR 5 billion business in personal care. That in itself is bigger than any other country around the world where India is, as you know, our second largest business, EUR 5 billion business on total personal care. EUR 2 billion in refreshment, EUR 1 billion in foods. After the acquisition of Seventh Generation, we're back in home care. Clearly, we're not back in home care just in a frontal way, but actually through the lens of the Unilever sustainable living as a purposeful brand, which we got into our portfolio, and in a way is that it is truly a differentiating proposition, and that's the way we reentered back into home care. If there's two messages to put in your mind, it's on this chart and on the next as the summary of today's presentation.
The first one is that Unilever USA, actually over the years what we have created is truly a Unilever stronghold. It used to be logic is that we were a challenger business and not a real strong part of the Unilever country setup. Over the years, we truly have now created Unilever USA as a stronghold around the Unilever world. The second one is that we are fast and future-proofing both the portfolio through the category and through the channel lens and through its capabilities. It's absolutely critical to make sure is that the success is actually being taken forward in the years to come. At the same time, what we realized is that winning in America is absolutely strategic.
There are probably European businesses who have a bit of a blind spot about that importance, where it starts with in the home continent, then it talks about emerging markets. Clearly, our emerging market footprint is absolutely critical, 57%, and a critical part of our accelerated and future growth. At the same time, winning in America is critically important for many reasons. For the reason about the true competitiveness as we have here in the U.S. and we have here in China, if it is about future-proofing of our capabilities in the leading edge and fast changing market. With that, let's talk about the fast-changing market. I think is that the headline is that it is a tough market out there. At the same time, there's also growth everywhere, it is a paradox, which is both true.
If you look at it in the GDP, there's growth in there, the polarities in society is actually quite significant. You see that through the income, the increasing in terms of low income, then increase in the high end of the market. Any market in fast-moving consumer goods where basically is that the middle class of the market is under pressure is not good for our industry. The fact is that our middle class is under pressure is actually just structurally a real issue in the market. The third one is about the digital revolution, it goes so fast. It creates many of the changes that are in there. The big point there is the pivot in channels is absolutely happening.
Where Nielsen is actually showing negative volumes and the markets which are very clearly under pressure, there is market growth in other than the Nielsen market. We need to look at both because obviously our heritage part of the market sits in the part where the Nielsen channels are being measured. The last part is about living differently, and we think about how millennials truly are shopping different, are buying different, the brands and their relationship with brands is truly different. That is something which we need to make sure is that we are on the leading edge of that change, and our brand's relationship with our millennials. At the same time, what is true is the multicultural population as being a fast-growing part of the country.
This notion about faster than ever change in the industry is absolutely relevant, and at the same time, it is, yes, a tough market, but there is growth, especially if you look at it through the alternative channels. The hyperfragmentation we talked about yesterday already through the category presidents. The first one is about the fragmented consumer decision journey. The pre-shop, the shop, and the post-shop, digital, physical, and Brian talked about that as well, to make sure is that you win at every point of that consumer decision is absolutely fundamental. When we talk about future-proofing our capabilities, that is where the main part sits. I talked about channels and the growth of channels outside the traditional channels. Those outside of the traditional channels are highly fragmented.
When you think about the concept of Thrive Market or when you think about it in the hard discount, if you look at the differentiated parts of what is happening through that fragmented channel lens, that is absolutely critical. Around 17% of our business is already in outside of our traditional channels, and that part of the market is really growing very fast. The third one is obviously the fragmentation in media, as we discussed yesterday in Graeme's presentation. What it does result is actually in bigger swings, both up and down, and in terms of different winners. If you think about the different winners, we've talked about the challenger brands, the smaller brands, which are growing fast, whether that's Halo Top, Shea Moisture, or the Sir Kensington's. What you also see is a fast-moving competitive environment which is changing.
For us, what is relevant is two main parts. The first one is about J&J, especially also after the acquisition of OGX, really becoming a personal care competitor here in the U.S., and Coty being the other one. Obviously a commoditizing force of 3G driving basically commoditization in the food industry in the U.S. We talked about the alternative channels, which are driving disproportionate growth. Of course, the greater consumer expectations and evolving trends because of the digitization. Dollar Shave Club is a good example, and Michael will talk about that this is not just cheap razors on the internet, but it is exactly what it is. It's a total experience, and the greater consumer expectations are obviously driven up every day by new experiences like Prime Now, which Amazon is doing.
In that context, it's important to understand our strategy, where did we come from, and how the strategy evolved. Pre-2011, 2011 is actually a critical year because it's the year of the acquisition of Alberto Culver. Pre-2011, we actually had a business where we milked the business. It was about cash, and it was about profit. We had a strategically misaligned portfolio against the rest of Unilever. We were subscale in personal care, and very clearly, we did not prioritize the U.S. into its strategic importance. As I said, Alberto Culver 2011 was an absolute strategic inflection point for the business. We invested through the acquisition, especially in personal care, and suddenly we became one of the real players in America in personal care, obviously very much aligned to our global personal care and global strategy.
We started about investing back in our infrastructure very significantly. We had underinvested because we were driving profit and cash, and we basically went from an old-fashioned infrastructure into a next generation of infrastructure, which we had the ability therefore, not only to be able to drive lower cost into the system, but also higher responsiveness to our customers and really make sure is that we invested back in our infrastructure, in our people, and in our brands, and we started to launch new brands in America. 2016 to 2020 is the next phase of that strategy. Basically, what we want to get out of that next phase is, first, a full return from the investment which we've done in 2012 to 2015, and I will show you a couple of slides where you see is indeed is that return is coming in.
At the same time, we need to step up our growth and get to the full potential of that growth potential here in America, and that is obviously where C4G is absolutely relevant. That is the phase of the strategic journey in which we are. We have had good progress in some of our critical and our key stakeholders. This chart actually helps to show the from-to in terms of the pre-invest back and then where we are today. From a consumer lens, what we did is we focused our portfolio. You remember is that between 2012, '13, a little bit in '14, we divested out of some brands and out of some categories. We went actually from four market leadership positions out of 15 categories. We are now leaders in eight out of the 10 markets in which we operate here in America.
The second one is investing back was also into the infrastructure, and that created an ability to both response and to be better in our customer service. That is mostly related into what this chart has. From a dispatch rate of 92%, which is absolutely below standard, towards a dispatch rate of 98%. Mark already alluded to it yesterday. We are not only have closed the gap in terms of our customer service through our investment in our infrastructure, we're now actually the best in the industry if it comes to customer service. Gartner is a good indicator of that, and both last year and this year, we were number one in Gartner. Actually, our customers, they recognize that.
If you look at it through the Advantage Study, which is basically where our customers rate us as Unilever and together with the rest of the industry, in terms of all the elements of working together, whether that is in customer service, whether that's in category management, whether that's in consumer insights, how we help to grow their total categories. In 2013, we were actually number 27 in the Advantage Study. We just got back is that in 2017, we are number four in the Advantage Study. Many of the customers actually call us out as being the partner of choice, Target being one of them. Also, if you look at it through the different lenses, whether it is through CVS or Walgreens, or through Publix, and many of them actually recognize us as their partner of choice.
First, because we got the basics right around customer service, and then secondly, because we are actually talking about through innovation, how we help them to grow the categories as good as it is in a very tough environment. Employer of choice, this is in total America, all industries, all companies. We went from 147 to 75. What you see is that if you look at the main universities in which we recruit, actually out of the 12 main universities which we recruit from, we are employer of choice of half of them. What you see is that our employer brand as employer of choice has really stepped up. One of the things is that through the lens of the working mother, we are employer of choice there as well.
We were not in the top 100 three, actually four years ago, and we are now in the top 10 of most desired companies to work for a mother. Again, a good step up in terms of employer of choice. The last one is about in terms of sustainable living, is that purposeful brands, they grow faster, and that's obviously at the heart of our strategy. In the U.S. that is the same. Actually, our purpose-driven brands, they grow two and a half times faster than the rest of our portfolio, and you see that also coming back in the GlobeScan measurement. Good progress if you look at it through the lens of our stakeholders, whether it's our consumers, our customers, our employers, or about society at large.
What you also see is that we've made good progress in terms of consistent improvement in cash, in cost, and in profit. If you look at it through the lens of our supply chain controlled cost, we went from 30 factories, actually 31 factories, all the way to 12. You see that that comes back into our cost base. Our supply chain cost as a percentage of our turnover went down over these years 440 basis points. Our growth margin stepped up year after year after year, and you see is that the combination of lower cost, higher growth margin, and actually our cash conversion cycle is that what we have invested back. You see already the cash coming back into the business from a cash conversion cycle from +10 days to -12. All resulting into a higher underlying operating margin.
The consistency of that is important in its totality, 400 basis points up in its profitability. What does it do in terms of competitiveness? The first part of competitiveness is in our market shares. The market shares are measured in our traditional channels. Very, very important to recognize that point because it is just one part of the market where it measures. It is always important is that we go into the traditional part of the market that you are gaining market share there, which is actually our core channels, and you see that over time. This chart shows it from 2010 to 2016 to year to date 2017. What you see is that actually 15.7% in hair care. There obviously 2011 was when Alberto Culver happened, then 2016, 2017, we are now 27.8% market share in hair care.
In deodorants, you see an even bigger step up. As Graeme said yesterday, part of this is because of the dry sprays, but also the premiization in that category is really paying off now to almost 46% of the market in market share in deos. In skin cleansing, we had a historic stronghold there of 34%, and we are now close to 36%. After the announcement on Monday on Shea Moisture, that is actually now around 30% and 36.8%. That obviously add again, in terms of our market shares. In the two other strategic markets which we have, the first one is around ice cream. That is a tale of two stories. The first one is that we've invested back in our infrastructure and invested back in our portfolio with launch of Magnum, and the acquisition of Talenti.
Real good progress in ice cream, where we became market leader in ice cream here in America as well. At the same time, what you see in this year is that we are under pressure because of the disruption of Halo Top, that is fundamentally why we are losing market share in ice cream this year. In mayonnaise, a real good progress and continued progress also this year. Almost 100 basis points of increase, where Kraft Heinz is actually in decline in their market share. Their share is now close or below 30% against our share of 46.6%. All in all, good progress if we look at it in terms of competitive growth in our traditional channels. That has created a stronghold in America.
I think as I said, in the earlier chart in terms of one of the key outtakes, start with the fact is that actually we have created a strong Unilever USA. I think this chart actually represents that in a very strong and good way. Market leader in almost all of the categories in which we operate, that is complete new. If you think about it, when Alan was talking about yesterday to say, this changed from what our position in personal care was versus where we are now. This is the number 1 category leaders in all of the markets in which we operate, except in skin care.
Not only that, also our relative market share is quite significantly 10% bigger than P&G in hair care, 30% bigger in deos, 3.3 times bigger in skin cleansing, 50% bigger in mayo, and you can read the charts for yourself. It's not only important to be category leader, it's also important to have brand leadership. That is what you see actually in each and every category, is that we have brand leadership. In some of the most sizable categories in which we operate, hair care, deo, and ice cream, we have not only the first brand, but also the second brand in the market. Some with a very small margin, i.e., 10 basis points bigger than the third brand, but anyway, we take it for what it is.
As we talk about tea, that has both a tea business, which is the leaf and the bags part of it, but the ready to drink through our partnership with Pepsi, our biggest brand is Lipton, and then Pure Leaf. Which we started in 2012, is now a $1 billion business, literally built in five years together with our partnership. It's not in our growth numbers, as you know, but it is in our EPS and it is obviously in the market in terms of the number one and number two brands which we have. All of this actually then translates into growth numbers, which is below our ambition. Let me clear this chart because this is an important chart. The first one is go where it says North America total, because those are the numbers which you actually recognize.
Because those are the numbers, the way that we report it every year. What we've done here is obviously first, those are North American numbers. What we want to show here is the U.S. numbers. Three years ago when we had the discussion, and there was a question about how actually the core of Unilever USA related in terms of its growth, and that is what we have on this chart. When you look at it as Unilever USA core being defined as North America minus Canada, then minus BCS, and minus the professional part of the business, this is where the core of the business is growing. The next point on this is that, yes, we had accelerated growth to 2016 as 1.6%, and this year, we are actually missing the two 1%.
We will end up around below 1% in this year, and I will come back here to what Graeme was talking already about, as that is the missing two 1%. This growth is actually an up and down elevator. The swings and roundabouts of the business. As I said, is that the market moves so fast that therefore you have bigger swings in companies in their growth, but you actually have that within the portfolio. The strength of having a true portfolio actually helps us. Obviously, the strength of having our global footprint, the diversity of our categories, that all actually helps to be able to drive consistent and profitable growth. When you look at the upsides and the key successes which we have, and Dove is a over billion brand here in America. It actually is growing 9%.
Dove for Men is growing very fast, and the totality of the brand is growing, including the fact is that we have launched Baby Dove. DEO has another year of around 6%. Just imagine, again, over a EUR 1 billion business, which continues to consistently grow very rapidly. What is really good news is that in the C4G environment, our innovations this year have been the best year of our innovations, and it is EUR 170 million incremental growth, in our innovations. E-commerce obviously growing very rapidly, 45% in e-commerce, and that excludes the Dollar Shave Club, which we will come back to later on today. It is also about what are the key challenges. The key challenges are in a couple of categories, which is about leaf tea, it is about skincare, it is about Halo Top and ice cream, which is specific for this year.
It is a specific channel, especially in the grocery channel. Let me go through each and every part of this. The first one in tea, we needed to reshape the portfolio completely. We need to make sure that we hold Lipton as good as we can. At the same time, we launched Pure Leaf and we acquired Tazo, which is over EUR 100 million brand. Obviously we have Pukka in there. That is a reshape of the portfolio, which needed reshape because we are in serial decline in tea here in the U.S. The next one is about skincare. Again, this has a longer-term decline. Here also we need to change the portfolio. Again, we changed the portfolio in multiple ways. The first one is through acquisition, and Shea Moisture and Carver Korea are good examples.
We also create new propositions, Love Beauty and Planet, and Dove Derma, which Hanneke talked about yesterday, are good examples of it. Again, what it says is we are shaping and reshaping that portfolio. In ice cream, the specific issue on Halo Top, Alan will talk about that later, that is obviously the speed of reaction. At the same time, how can we turn the table so that we are back on our front foot is key. The grocery channel is really under pressure. Of course, they are managing their issues, which starts with stock levels. They are consolidating because of a consolidating industry, new Albertsons, together with Safeway, Ahold together with Delhaize, they are consolidating distribution centers and the likes.
Fundamentally, that put pressure on the stock levels, EUR 50 million additional over last year, which is obviously an efficiency, which happens every year, this is on top of that. What we need to do is make sure is that we actually are the leaders in personal care, conversion, and in net revenue management. I will come back to that. All that actually are the ups and the downs to a growth of this year of under 1%. We are missing the 2 1%. The first one is really about C4G and making sure that through net revenue management, we need to outperform, especially the traditional part of our markets, in an accelerated way. The second 1% is actually through the pivot of channels and through our M&As.
If you look at this chart, basically, if you think about those brands who we already have part of the portfolio, but are only coming in 2019, as Graeme said yesterday, into our numbers, but they are already brands as part of our portfolio. That portfolio, which we own today, grows around 2%. That is where the second 1% sits. It's one about outperforming the 1%, just better execution, C4G in action. The second one is actually the portfolio transformation and the channel pivot, where the second 1% sits. It's really important to think about what the totality of the model is. This model actually, to start with the core of the core, you always start with the core, 70-20-10, as we talk in C4G, it starts with the core of the core, and that's the fundamental part first.
We start from a strong performance there because of our strong positions in the marketplace, number one and number two brands. That is actually from that stronghold we need to grow. When you then go all the way to the right in terms of joining Unilever, that is the second leg in terms of how we accelerate our profitable growth here in America. That is through our M&A. What's interesting is that in all of these six acquisitions, whether it is Talenti , or Tazo, Shea Moisture, Dollar Shave, Seventh Gen, or Sir Kensington's, each and every of these acquisitions, only Unilever was part of the process. There was no auction, there was no other parties involved because these founders choose to be part of Unilever. They were employers. Actually, we are an employer of choice where people choose to be part of Unilever.
That is also what you see with these founders. That is why we have a significant differentiated model where, as I said, the founders choose to be part of Unilever, and we will talk, and we will hear that during the founders panel later. The other part is where we are stepping it up through growth beyond the core, and that's C4G in action. It is definitely not true is that we're driving the core and then the other leg is just about M&A. It is about all three legs, where it is about core of the core, and it is in M&A, and it is about beyond the core through C4G. This is a good example where both Breyers Delights sits, but also in Love Beauty and Planet and ApotheCARE as two new brands, which we are launching as we speak into the marketplace.
Let's look at the video on Love Beauty and Planet as a brand which we have completely crafted here in America, local with Priya, who you will see later on during the rotation.
We think beauty and its environmental impact are inseparable. We decided to do things a little differently and made something so beautiful it will move people to love our beauty, our planet, and ourselves every single day. We have one goal, to make you more beautiful and give a little love to the planet. Here's how. First, fill it with beautiful ingredients like organic coconut oil and sustainably sourced murumuru butter, in formulas your hair and skin will love. Go vegan, all vegan, and don't test on animals. Parabens, silicones, dyes, bye-bye. Second, make it smell ethically amazing. Amazing-smelling fragrances, each made with an ethically sourced essential oil or absolute. Third, stop wasting. Bottles, make them from 100% recycled plastic and make them 100% recyclable. Fourth, really stop wasting. We think conditioners can take too long to wash out.
We invented fast rinse conditioner technology that saves you from tangles and can help you save some water. Fifth, tread lightly on the planet because we believe footprints belong in the sand, not on the environment. Lastly, don't stop loving. Our story could end here, but it won't, because these small acts of love that bring beauty to you and to the planet feel so good. We're just getting started.
That's the brand which, through Connected for Growth we have created. Again, this is from the start a truly Unilever Sustainable Living Plan brand, in action, to showcase is that indeed it is both about the core, it is through M&A, but definitely it is about creating our own brands through our own brand development creation. That's what you see in this better and bigger innovations. You see new brands which we're launching, whether that's ApotheCARE, whether that's Love Beauty and Planet, Baby Dove, which we've done, but we are creating new platforms. Dry sprays is one of them, scrubs is another one, and you see is that the shower foam, which you have in front of you, is another platform innovations where actually our customers say is that it is all about category growth which we create.
We do that both in personal care, in refreshment, and in foods. The first point is about the future-proofing of our categories into our faster-growing segments. The second one is about future-proofing the channels, and that always starts with winning in the core, and that therefore is about win with Walmart and win with Target. Our market share performance within Walmart and Target is actually positive, and that is fundamentally before we then move in terms of the pivot into other channels. The next channel, as Alan already talked about in the global PC strategy, is about making sure that we get to our fair share in our health and beauty channel. We have a historic under our fair share, and you see on this chart is that we are step-by-step actually moving towards our fair share.
Our fair share in personal care, 30%, and we're now on 25.8%. That is before Shea Moisture comes in, and that is over-indexed again in this channel. Good progress, also in terms of end of the year, both for CVS and for Walgreens. Beyond that, the next channel is around the naturals channel. Again, this channel is growing faster than the rest of the market, and we had only EUR 5 million in 2013. By now we have EUR 55 million, and we have a joint business plan with them to be able to get to EUR 200 million. You see that the portfolio reshape and the growth in faster-growing alternative channels is actually one and the same thing.
If you look at this through the lens of Seventh Generation, Sir Kensington, which is the market leader in Whole Foods, or through our new C4G brands such as Love Beauty and Planet and ApotheCARE, those are all linked in terms of a portfolio which fits the channel. The same in terms of e-commerce. In 2013, we had a EUR 10 million business. We will have close to a EUR 500 million business in 2017. Very clearly we need to have a EUR 1 billion-plus business after 2020. That is indeed a strategy which starts with winning with Amazon, it is also about making sure you create your own D2C platforms. Milk Grooming in Dollar Shave Club is one of them, also, as again, we showed yesterday in Skinsei, which is a D2C skin platform, or in haircare is Nexxus, where we have a D2C haircare platform.
We also win with Amazon, this is about relative market share, it is about our fair share. When you look at these numbers, this is in skin cleansing, in deodorants, and in haircare. We're actually number one in all of those categories at Amazon. We are on our fair share, both in skin cleansing and in haircare. Sorry, in skin cleansing and in deos. The one which we are not is actually in haircare, where there's a very, very long tail. Again, our relative market share in Amazon versus the next biggest competitor is actually bigger than we have in brick and mortar.
All in all, what you see is the portfolio reshape helps to drive what you see is in a portfolio and in a fast-growing e-commerce landscape where we are close to EUR 500 million now and the intent by 2020 to have over EUR 1 billion. The third leg about future-proofing, from future-proofing categories to future-proofing channels to future-proofing capabilities. net revenue management is actually one of the most strategic things which we are doing in this environment where big box retailers are under pressure. The first thing is that our brands and our strong brands is that we need to have the courage to price, that's pricing power. Relative market share and pricing power are always linked, that is what we call a net revenue management lever 1.
In terms of lever 2, in a more channel fragmented environment, you need to manage pack price channel architecture. That is super strategic and important because channel conflict is one of the things which you need to avoid, again, in a very fast, channel fragmented environment. Of course, profit pools are shifting. Where big box retailers are under pressure, they try to shift the profit pool, pricing and the art of pricing and promotional pricing, absolutely fundamental to do that right. That is why net revenue management is so strategic. At the same time, we need to make sure that our responsiveness in our total infrastructure and in our supply chain has the ability to manage a fragmented channel capability.
That is where Mark was talking yesterday about both third-party flexible infrastructure at the same time through our investments, which we've done in investing back. We also created a higher responsiveness and more flexibility in our total system. Digitizing Unilever, absolutely critical in every part of the business, not only through the digital 2.0 in our marketing part or through e-commerce, but actually in every part of the business, whether that's in Uber for trucks or whether that's the way is that we manage our data. We have a data 2020 strategy in place in terms of how we get the data, how we use the data, and how we manage the data, first party, second party, third party data.
We have strategic investments through Unilever Ventures, for example, in Instacart, where we're the only supplier who are part of Instacart, where we have that partnership, and therefore, through data, actually, where we are obviously stepping into that partnership. At the same time, is that we've invested in something which is called Sunbasket, which is a personalized nutrition food service business. Again, these investments help us to understand how data drive growth in a more D2C type of reality. That's it in terms of the future proofing of our capabilities. ZBB is the other part, which is absolutely strategic in the business. Not only does it drive to our continuous improvement in our underlying operating margin, but it actually also creates space for our M&A activities. We are very much driving that. EUR 170 million in 2017 in ZBB for this year, both in BMI.
If you look at it, our absolute BMI is down, whilst to the consumer dollars, we are actually spending EUR 100 million more this year than we did in the previous years. Logistics, a very big drive around ZBB, and obviously overheads continues to drive more efficiency into the business, both through One Marketing and C4G, but also in other parts of the business. As I said, ZBB is not only important to improve our underlying operating margin, but it's absolutely important as well to create space for our second 1%, because some of these acquisitions in the beginning are actually accretive to growth but not yet to profit, and therefore, to be able to drive the ability and the space for our M&A is absolutely key, and that's why ZBB is so strategically important. Here are the acquisitions which we had since 2015.
In the same way, as Graeme showed the global portfolio, where we are actually acquiring and closing gaps in our portfolio, whether it is through channels, through natural positioning, or through higher price premium. This shows how strategic our M&A has been over the years here. It's an acquired EUR 1 billion portfolio of brands, the like-for-like growth is already 10%. That's what I said, is that the underlying business, actually, if you add up on top of that, the like-for-like M&A already on top of it, we are growing around 2%. That brings us to the summary. The summary talks about we've invested back, we created a stronghold in America, at the same time, we need to grow faster. We need to accelerate our growth, that is through Connected for Growth. That is through future proofing our categories, our channels, and our capabilities.
5S, ZBB, and net revenue management, absolutely strategic to be able to unlock the maximum value out of what is strategically important, and that is winning in America. With that, let's have three minutes for questions. Yeah. You're getting a mic.
Hi. James Targett from Berenberg. Just, I was interested in your comments on channel conflict. Just how are you managing the relationship with Walmart and Target, your biggest customers, when you're trying to obviously grow sales so much in e-commerce, and particularly, a lot of the new products, new brands you're launching are more focused probably on the sort of health and beauty channel versus, and e-commerce maybe versus Walmart and Target. Are they annoyed that you're maybe restricting access to some of your latest innovations?
The key point is that it is all about the shopper. If you start with the shopper in mind, and you look at through a shopper segmentation, and what the shopper mission is, and then you overlay that portfolio against both the channel and the customer, that's the way where you really do it. Ultimately, to have a portfolio which is inefficient in your stores, nobody wants that. It is something where the sophistication of the way retail has been done in America helps a lot. I've always said is that retail in America is one of the best in the world because it's through size, it's through sophistication, and it's through collaboration. This notion about how you get destination portfolios right by channel and by customer is absolutely critical. It does come back in terms of brand, pack, price, channel architecture.
If you do that in the right way, and you have the flexibility to do that together with them, that's the way to do it. That's nice in theory. In practice, it's hard work to be able to do that. Therefore, our relationship with our customers and being preferred partners is absolutely critical because that is where you see is that the trust there and where it's really through collaboration. We are a gold partner for Walgreens. At the same time, with Walmart and with Target, we are the preferred supplier. At the moment, we're managing that well, but it is an absolute increasing ability to do that, and that's why I said this net revenue management brand pack price channel architecture is absolutely fundamental to manage that. Yep.
When you think about margins through e-commerce right now, considering all the capabilities you have to invest in, is that the same margin as the rest of your business right now? Do you reach a scale point where it becomes the same or higher at some point in the future?
Yeah. Thank you. Our gross margins through e-commerce are actually higher. If you look at the net-net, it's not. There is the next discussion is about how much of the investment in search is actually any way the same effectiveness in search as it is through a Google search, for example. You need to look at that through the lens of the digital investment. What is important is your portfolio needs to be the right portfolio, and that goes often to average sales price. To be able to get in the portfolio things like ApotheCARE, which is specifically focused into e-commerce, or Love Beauty and Planet, those type of propositions actually helps the economic model there as well. It is about portfolio fit for e-commerce. You build your supply chain fit for e-commerce to get an activity system which is efficient for it.
You need to make sure is that the investment basically in search is a general investment into the totality of digital investment, not only specifically for that channel. All in all, it's a challenge, the reality. At the moment, if you look at its gross margin, it is on or above our company average, the totality still is dilutive. To be able to scale and develop and set the goal that far is absolutely critical on our journey to over EUR 1 billion.
I think we probably need.
Yep
Do rotations then.
Perfect. Okay. With that said, Andrew is going to tell and talk about how we do the rotations. Thank you.