glazzarinetti1-blog

[glazzarinetti1-blog]

Post 13: Promotion

The Gillette brand has a lot of social media presence. They are on Facebook, Instagram, Yelp, Pinterest and twitter. They promote their brand on these social media sites with professional athletes from the NFL like Shaquem Griffin. They are also giving away New England Patriot tickets for following Gillette on Facebook and “liking” a post, and commenting on one of their posts. This is a very successful way of promotional strategy to promote and advertise their brand. In all their social media presence, they allow anyone to comment or add feedback in order to have mass communication for large audiences. I also noticed that on their social media sites, Gillette provides feedback to positive and negative comments posted by their consumers. They also offer lots of sales promotion on their social media accounts, especially for the holidays. I noticed a picture of a Christmas sweater with a man holding a new shaving razor promoting their new product line for the holidays. 

Personal selling is not used in their social media sites, they are a self-service business that involves the consumer to see reviews and purchase the item on their own via online, or walking into a local superstore or pharmacy etc. I don’t believe that personal selling would help sell the item because nobody likes salesman, and I feel that it would be a waste of money for a company like Gillette to have salesman selling their product. Their brand is so large that the name and brand sell itself. It’s more about being able to have the proper online exposure to compete with their upcoming competitors like Harry’s and Dollar Shave Club. 

Some tools that Gillette uses to assess their advertising efforts are TV commercials with public figures like NFL Players, billboards, bus stops and even advertisements that pop-up in certain applications on our mobile device like Amazon or Waze, also known as advergaming. It seems that Gillette has advertising campaigns during all the different seasons to promote certain products. Lastly, one thing that the Gillette brand has is audience selectivity because on all their social media accounts, they promote with a male figure holding their product and displaying it with the intention that it captures a man attention.

References:

Bhasin, H. (2018, May 30). Marketing blog for students and professionals. Retrieved from https://www.marketing91.com/

Green, D. (2017, May 09). Gillette just made an unprecedented change to be more like its competitors. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/gillette-launches-on-demand-razor-subscription-2017-5

Heath, T. (2017, April 05). How hipster brands have the king of razors on the run. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/how-hipster-brands-have-the-king-of-razors-on-the-run/2017/04/05/edca3af6-1a27-11e7-9887-1a5314b56a08_story.html

W., C., McDaniel, J. F., & Carl. (n.d.). MindTap Marketing for Lamb/Hair/McDaniel's MKTG, 12th Edition [Instant Access], 1 term (6 months). Retrieved from https://www.vitalsource.com/products/mindtap-marketing-for-lamb-hair-mcdaniel-39-s-mktg-lamb-charles-w-hair-joe-v9781337912266

[glazzarinetti1-blog]

Post 12: Place (Distribution)

Segmentation strategy is used buy the companies to segregate the population based on the variables which will shape the basis on which different offerings is to be created. “Gillette uses demographic and psychographic segmentation strategies. In order to differentiate the distinctive features of its products, Gillette uses differentiated targeting strategy” (Marketing91.com). Most of the advertisements of the company highlight the underlying benefit of using the particular product of the brand and therefore it uses, usage-based positioning strategy. Gillette indeed uses intensive distribution to sell through as many outlets as possible. For example, chain stores, so that the consumers encounter the product virtually everywhere they go: supermarkets, drug stores, gas stations, and the like.  Some companies that Gillette uses to bring the item to its customers are Target, Walmart, CVS Pharmacy, Gas Stations and mostly all convenient stores. A retail strategy that Gillette uses with their retailers is floor stocking because Gillette’s inventory is displayed for sale to customers in a certain section of the store. Gillette has their brand in mostly all supercenters, like Walmart and Target. These two supercenters are an example of how Gillette offers their products to their customers, this would be their main source of distribution.

Below is a display of how a Supercenter will display and promote Gillette products as a distributor for Gillette.

Most super stores and local pharmacies across the states offer Gillette products. These superstores and mass merchandisers are the main distributors for Gillette. 

References:

Heath, T. (2017, April 05). How hipster brands have the king of razors on the run. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/how-hipster-brands-have-the-king-of-razors-on-the-run/2017/04/05/edca3af6-1a27-11e7-9887-1a5314b56a08_story.html

W., C., McDaniel, J. F., & Carl. (n.d.). MindTap Marketing for Lamb/Hair/McDaniel's MKTG, 12th Edition [Instant Access], 1 term (6 months). Retrieved from https://www.vitalsource.com/products/mindtap-marketing-for-lamb-hair-mcdaniel-39-s-mktg-lamb-charles-w-hair-joe-v9781337912266

[glazzarinetti1-blog]

Post 11: Trends/Pricing

One trend in the marketplace that did pose a threat for the Gillette brand were the online shaving retailers that sell and promote their business via online. A competitor like Harry’s, created an online system where their customers can order online and purchase their grooming needs whenever its convenient for them from home, rather than having to walk into a store to purchase the product. The way Gillette has recently responded was by mimicking the direct-to-consumer model and offer their products online where their customers can now customers can either buy blades as needed or build a custom subscription to tailor their needs. In order to launch this service, Gillette offered sales promotion because they motivated their consumer base to purchase their products online with Gillette on Demand immediately by lowering the price during a promotional time and adding value to those that become loyal customers. Gillette is increasingly feeling the threat from startups like Harry’s and Dollar Shave Club, which are eating away at its dominance in the global men’s-razor business which is why Gillette came out with Gillette on Demand to be able to compete with their competitors and begin having digital channels and create this pathway that allows Gillette products to flow from the producer to the consumer directly. 

The razor business is all about the blades and if consumers are hooked on a certain razor, they will buy the highly profitable refill blades forever. That seemingly indestructible, high-margin revenue stream is what made Warren Buffet once fall in love with Gillette, which dominates the global razor business with an estimated 50 percent market share. Buffett became one of its largest shareholders and added to his fortune when the razor king was sold to Procter & Gamble for $57 billion in 2005. “Gillette’s dominance is at risk, with lower-priced private label upstarts such as Dollar Shave Club and Harry’s eroding market share that Gillette built over more than a century” (thewashingtonpost.com). Gillette began across-the-board to do price cuts averaging 12 percent in an attempt to halt the inexorable surrender of its men’s razor business to the newcomers. The market share held by “Procter & Gamble has dropped from 70 percent in 2010 to 54 percent in 2016” (thewashingtonpost.com). Aside from wanting to compete with these online retailers, Gillette indicated that they want to be available at all price points that men are looking for and give their customers the best shaving experience in that category, regardless of what their customers want to spend. Gillette Fusion, one of their most expensive razor blades will go from $4.99 to $3.74 per razor blade, a savings of about 25 percent. Overall, the brand was priced relatively high until recently when Gillette had to reduce their pricing to compete with these new coming razor companies that are online retailing. One thing that Gillette on Demand began doing was have shopper analytics because this helps Gillette discover meaningful patterns in their shopper’s data for the purpose to finetune and change any market offerings if need be. Lastly, as stated by Phil Masiello, who founded 800Razors.com, “Gillette makes great razor blades, nobody has ever complained about the great shave of Gillette. People only complained about the price. You take the price difference out, all of a sudden they are back in the game” (thewashingtonpost.com).

References:

Green, D. (2017, May 09). Gillette just made an unprecedented change to be more like its competitors. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/gillette-launches-on-demand-razor-subscription-2017-5

W., C., McDaniel, J. F., & Carl. (n.d.). MindTap Marketing for Lamb/Hair/McDaniel's MKTG, 12th Edition [Instant Access], 1 term (6 months). Retrieved from https://www.vitalsource.com/products/mindtap-marketing-for-lamb-hair-mcdaniel-39-s-mktg-lamb-charles-w-hair-joe-v9781337912266

[glazzarinetti1-blog]

Post 10: Services

Gillette began facing stiff competition in the personal care product line. Now, in an effort to win back customers, it’s taking a page straight out of its competitors’ playbooks to build their customer service base via online. “After slashing prices across the board and launching a marketing campaign called “Welcome Back,” Gillette has now introduced a new way to buy blades directly from the company, called Gillette on Demand” (businessinsider.com). This service mimics the direct-to-consumer models of competitors like Harry’s and Dollar Shave Club. It allows customer to either buy blades as needed or build a custom subscription to tailor the consumer needs. This also gives a direct channel for Gillette to sell directly to their consumers without having a retailer sell their products; for example, a retail store like Target or Walmart. This was the beginning of Gillette’s crisis management because the company made a coordinated effort to handle all the effects of unfavorable publicity, for example, not being an online service like their competitors. 

In Gillette on Demand, three of Gillette’s products are offered as part of the service, acting as three separate tiers: Disposable Sensor 3 Razors, the tri-bladed Mach3 turbo, and the top-of-the line Gillette Fusion Proshield. Gillette on Demand also came out with a loyalty marketing program because “subscribers are rewarded for their loyalty with their fourth order free, while others can text or email the company at any time to order for a one-time purchase” (businessinsider.com). A great service that Gillette is offering with their Gillette on Demand service is offering coupons that entitles consumers to an immediate price reduction when the product is purchased on that day with a subscription. 

References:

Bhasin, H. (2018, May 30). Marketing blog for students and professionals. Retrieved from https://www.marketing91.com/

Green, D. (2017, May 09). Gillette just made an unprecedented change to be more like its competitors. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/gillette-launches-on-demand-razor-subscription-2017-5

Heath, T. (2017, April 05). How hipster brands have the king of razors on the run. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/how-hipster-brands-have-the-king-of-razors-on-the-run/2017/04/05/edca3af6-1a27-11e7-9887-1a5314b56a08_story.html

W., C., McDaniel, J. F., & Carl. (n.d.). MindTap Marketing for Lamb/Hair/McDaniel's MKTG, 12th Edition [Instant Access], 1 term (6 months). Retrieved from https://www.vitalsource.com/products/mindtap-marketing-for-lamb-hair-mcdaniel-39-s-mktg-lamb-charles-w-hair-joe-v9781337912266

[glazzarinetti1-blog]

Post 9: Brand Detail

Gillette is a brand name because its part of a brand that can be spoken, compared to a brand like Nike which is just a symbol and known as a brand mark. Gillette is a brand of men’s and women’s safety razors and other personal care products including shaving supplies, owned by the multi-national corporation, Procter & Gamble. “Gillette Company Inc. manufactures and sales shaving products for men, offers razors and blades, disposable razors and replacement blades; as well as pre and post shave products, such as shaving creams, gels and foams. As well as skin care and after shave products” (Bloomberg.com). Aside from the few products previously mentioned, Gillette also provides deodorant and antiperspirants and body washes. This is an ideal product mix that this organization (Gillette) offers and sells to their market based.

Gillette has a big product line depth because within their razor product line, they have a copious of different razors to fit their consumer needs, same with different kinds of deodorants and antiperspirants and body washes for men and women. Within the Gillette brand, the company does a product line extension because they are always adding additional products to an existing product line in order to compete more broadly in the industry, for example all their different kinds of razors that they offer for their consumer base. 

 Gillette has a large brand equity because the value of this brand name has high awareness, perceived quality, and brand loyalty among their customers. The product category would be “Personal Care Products” and the first brand name that would appear would be Gillette because they are known for their personal care product line. 

References:

Bhasin, H. (2018, May 30). Marketing blog for students and professionals. Retrieved from https://www.marketing91.com/

Green, D. (2017, May 09). Gillette just made an unprecedented change to be more like its competitors. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/gillette-launches-on-demand-razor-subscription-2017-5

[glazzarinetti1-blog]

Post 7: Packaging

I believe the packaging for Gillette products is very safe and secure. It is not easy to take apart to get the razor and razor blades out. However, I do notice why its important to have proper and secure packaging. Most of the Gillette products are sold in drug stores and supermarkets etc which this type of packaging will help prevent any fraudulent activities like shop lifting. 

I personally have bought Gillette and Harry’s products, and the Harry’s products came by mail in a nice box, and enclosed were the razor, razor blades, after shave and a bottle of shaving cream. It was very easy to open and take out for my convenience. The Gillette products come in an enclosed hard plastic oval box. Its very difficult to open, I generally have to grab scissors or a knife to get it open. 

The only change I would honestly make is to imitate the packaging that Harry’s uses in order to make it more convenient and easier for Gillette’s clients. Women’s Gillette product line is the same packaging across the board and I truly feel that it would make things a lot easier if the packaging was user friendly to all. 

[glazzarinetti1-blog]

Post 6: Competition

A few competitors to the Gillette brand would be Unilever, Dollar Shave Club and Harry’s. Gillette has always been the market leader in the U.S. when it came to grooming needs for men. Until recent times and lately it has been facing numerous challenges from these competitors. Especially Harry’s, since this is an online ordering grooming products for men. Nowadays, people Uber or use third party companies to have them purchase their products and deliver it to their home. Harry’s created an online system that did just that. Harry’s allowed busy men that never had time to visit a local store to purchase facial grooming products online. 

Regardless of these competitors, “Gillette is still the market leader in the U.S. in shaving accessories and has a market share of around 69% with an estimated revenue of 1.4 billion dollars. Though the company was introducing new products for more and more specific customer needs and charging relatively higher prices, in the wake of the recession there seems to be a change of strategy with more focus on cheaper products” (marketing91.com). Although Gillette is the market leader in shaving accessories, Gillette had to cut razor prices to compete with Harry’s and dollar shave club. 

According to Procter & Gamble, there is a +0.28% in the market share for Gillette. Gillette has been the leading player in the razor blade market for more than a century, regardless of all the competitors. Procter & Gamble indicated that last year there had been a 65% market share globally in shave care. 

[glazzarinetti1-blog]

Post 5: Target Market

The NAICS Code for Gillette is 424210 - Drugs and Druggists’ Sundries Merchant Wholesalers. 

The target market for Gillette has been known for men’s grooming with its innovative razors and shaving blades. The brand has been the pioneer in providing efficient health-related and skin care solution for enhancing the men’s look with the wide range of products offered by the brand. “Segmentation strategy is used by the companies to segregate the population based on the variables which will shape the basis on which different offerings is to be created. Gillette uses demographic and psychographic segmentation strategies” (marketing91.com). 

The demographic markets for Gillette are men in the age group of 12 years old and above. However, recently Gillette has extended their product line and has introduced products for women as well. Most of its demographic is worldwide. Gillette is sold in more than 180 countries. With such large presence and brand portfolio, Gillette is able to minimize its operational cost and optimize its distribution cost through the use of the existing network of Procter & Gamble. As far as the ethnicity demographic, Gillette targets all ethnicities. Gillette does not target one specific ethnicity, they target all people from any ethnicity or religion. 

The psychographic segmentation that Gillette uses to promote their brand are the lifestyles of certain individuals. “With people giving more importance to hygiene factors, changing lifestyles, increased migration of population to urban centers, availability of the products in remotest of the location; the demand of the personal grooming by men is increasing in both urban as well rural center” (marketing91.com). The main customers of Gillette are drug stores, departmental stores, supermarket chains, small local businesses, hotel chains and distributors. 

[glazzarinetti1-blog]

Post 4: SWOT

Strengths in the SWOT analysis of Gillette: 

Association with Proctor & Gamble; Procter and gamble have tons of experience in consumer goods and great research orientation. P&G is a well known company which makes Gillette have a huge advantage. 

Continuous Innovation; Gillette is well known for being one of the most innovative companies in this business industry. 

Problem Based Approach; Gillette has uncovered new and unseen needs with respect to shaving and developed products that meet those needs creating scope for a lot of variants involving razor products. 

High Operating Margins; “Razors are one of the most profitable businesses for Procter & Gamble and currently one of their flagship brands with operating margins as high as 30%” (marketing91.com). 

Market Sensitivity; Even though razors are seen as a global and “one size fits all” type of product, Gillette has been extremely sensitive about adding culture to their brand. Having cultural changes and creating custom designed products to suit the needs of their customers in all different types of markets that they operate in allows them to have the strength of market sensitivity. 

Weaknesses in the SWOT analysis of Gillette: 

High Priced Products; Gillette has always done a strategy and pricing approach similar to the one in the U.S. and they realized that in third world countries, people were unwilling to pay a high price for razors. 

Lack of Customer Awareness; “Gillette has always been focused on innovating and creating need-based differentiation for their variants. But the customer perceived a razor as just something for removing unwanted hair. This created a need for customer education which the company was unable to address initially” (marketing91.com). 

More Parts; The more that Gillette enhances their products, the more technologically advanced their products are being made with, which increases the cost to assemble these new products. 

Opportunities in the SWOT analysis of Gillette: 

Increased importance to beauty; many customers care about their problems and what causes them and are searching for solutions. This is a clear opportunity for Gillette to have a need recognition. This clear opportunity for Gillette depend on need-based differentiation. 

Growth Potential; The middle class is constantly growing across the globe. This creates a target market for Gillette. Since the middle class have needs that are growing, means Gillette can take advantage of this growth and create new products that can satisfy these growing needs. 

The Propensity to Spend; “in emerging economies, there is a surge of income because of the growing number of dual-income households. The middle-income group has more to spare and this propensity to spend has also increased their impulsive spending” (marketing91.com)

Threats in the SWOT analysis of Gillette: 

Non-sustainable spending; the way consumers are spending on these products are constantly changing. New products that Gillette rolls out in their marketing mix are beginning to be difficult in creating a customizable business model. 

Competition; the Gillette brand has always been the marketing leader in the U.S. However, there are many competitors that are causing Gillette to have numerous challenges. Some of these competitors are Unilever, Dollar Shave Club and Harry’s. 

Based on this evaluation, a recommendation I would give to management would be to focus more on component lifestyles. Reason being is because it broadens their brand, rather than just focusing on single traditional lifestyle. Perhaps this will help find ways to lower the cost of assembly which can also really to lowering the cost of the new products in third world countries. That way everyone can afford the Gillette brand and expand the business worldwide to be affordable. Another recommendation I would give management based on this evaluation is to find a niche competitive advantage. If Gillette would seek to target and effectively serve a small segment of the market, little at a time, there would not be a huge lack of customer awareness. It might not be cost efficient at first, but it would definitely be effective with production in the future. 

[glazzarinetti1-blog]

Post 3: Strategy

A major differentiator of Gillette is the product innovation and the heavy investment in marketing and advertising. “Gillette occupies perhaps the most dominant position of any of the major global consumer goods brands with an estimated 70% share of the global razor blade category” (Brandingstrategyinsider.com). One big strategy that Gillette does is drive profitability. They find ways to lower the cost of manufacturing the product and increase sales by a fraction, making the company very profitable. 

Gillette’s other major differentiator is using positive cannibalization. Reason it uses positive cannibalization is because “Gillette launched its five bladed Fusion line in 2006 with a 40% price premium over Mach3, its previous three bladed offering. Despite the fact that both lines generate signifiant profits, with such a huge share of the shaving market it makes more sense for Gillette to focus its marketing resources on switching its own customers from Mach 3 to the more profitable Fusion line than trying to win any more share from competitors” (Brandingstrategyinsider.com). Gillette also has a great way of positioning their brand by targeting a specific market mix to influence potential customers overall perception of their brand. 

Increasing drive usage also differentiates Gillette with any other shaving brand. Increasing consumer usage of their brand has always been the main way of increasing profitability for any organization. Finding ways to have content marketing is the strategic marketing approach that Gillette uses to create and distribute content that is valuable, relevant and consistent. “Gillette is investing heavily in an online campaign to encourage consumers to use their Gillette razor downstairs on the lower body area as well as upstairs on the face” (Brandingstrategyinsider.com). 

Another great differentiator about Gillette products is that you can customize your own blade to fit your facial needs. Whether you have a round face, long face, skinny face for chubby face, all blades are custom made to fit every customers needs. If you have small hands or big hands, you can customize the handle of the razor as well. 

One major sustainable advantage that Gillette has compared to other razor brands is the marketing towards women, not just men. “Gillette’s excellent brand management is it’s blue ocean strategy extending its brand to women. In doing so, they have created a huge new potential market for themselves. 50% of the population that was out of bounds for them as long as they were dealing with men alone. This helps the branch from demographic segmentation because they are no longer just focusing on men, but also expanding their brand to women. 

[glazzarinetti1-blog]

Post 2: Brand

Gillette is a well known product that manufactures a variety of shaving products for men. The company has its corporate headquarters located in Boston Massachusetts and has been there since 1901. “Gillette Company Inc. manufactures and sales shaving products for men, offers razors and blades, disposable razors and replacement blades; as well as pre and post shave products, such as shaving creams, gels and foams. As well as skin care and aftershave products” (bloomberg.com). Aside from the few products previously mentioned, Gillette also provides deodorant and antiperspirants and body washes. Below is a quick snapshot of a few products that Gillette offers to their customers. 

The Gillette Company Inc, operates as a subsidiary of the Proctor & Gamble Company. It is known that Gillette has about 20,700 employees nationwide (bloomberg.com). And makes about $6.6 Billion dollars in sales annually. The company’s Mission Statement is “We’ll stop making razor blades when we can’t keep making them better” (gillette.com). This statement really shows the meaning of the company’s marketing concept because it exemplifies the satisfaction of the customers needs and wants. 

The Key Executives of Gillette are Patrice J. Louis (President), Charles W. Cramb (CFO and SVP of Finance), Richard K. Willard (SVP and General Counsel) and Christopher M. Jakubik (Vice President of Investor Relations). They also created their own Mission Statement on behalf of the entire organization. “We work hard. We’ve been around for more than 115 years, build on the values of quality, innovation and trust, and that’s something we don’t plan to change” (gillette.com). Having a mission statement like this shows the kind of Morals this company abides by. 

The Marketing Strategy that Gillette pursued is directly for men that shave and groom their facial appearance. Over 115 years ago, it all started with a man named King C. Gillette. His vision has inspired more than 100 years of innovation to bring men the best shave in the world.

Gillette has a Marketing Mix that directly relates to the shaving market for men. Gillette carries a unique blend of products, place of distribution (Boston, MA), promotion (media), and tons of pricing strategies designed to produce mutually satisfying exchanges with the market for men.  All of these amazing values cannot be shown without the teamwork of this brand. 

While reading the reviews and history on Gillette, I came across some reviews that their own employees state. The collaborative efforts of these employees help Gillette accomplish their objectives, which is to make the best shaving products for men. 

[glazzarinetti1-blog]

Post 1: Gillette

I chose to blog about Gillette because in my personal opinion, Gillette makes the best razors and razor blades. I have used many other razors like Harry’s and Lord, as well as electric razors and nothing beats Gillette. Every other razor I have used that was not Gillette, I would break out in rashes, i would get razor burns, cuts and my facial hair would not be completely shaved off. Another reason I truly like Gillette Razor products is because they use On-Demand Marketing since they deliver relevant experiences, integrated across both physical and virtual environments, throughout the consumer’s decision and buying process. Which makes it very easy for us consumers to buy their product. Gillette also focuses on using lots of marketing for their products. 

A great thing about Gillette, is how they use tons of Marketing in order to communicate and deliver offerings that have value for their customers, clients, partners, and society at large. They are always upgrading their products to tailor the needs of a broad clientele. The Marketing Concept is definitely an idea that Gillette focuses their brand on because as I mentioned previously, they constantly upgrade their products to satisfy their customers needs and wants. Before I decided to purchase Gillette razors, I did lots of research and read tons of reviews on the product. There were tons of Customer Satisfaction on Gillette products that caused me to begin buying their product to try it out. Its very important to rely on a great brand when it comes to grooming. 

In my perspective, Gillette products are very important because they have a great Cost Competitive Advantage compared to their competitors. Gillette products are low cost in such a huge industry and they continue to expand and upgrade their products and maintain being at a low and reasonable cost compared to companies like Harry’s. Cost efficiencies are very important to me, especially when a product is cheaper and better than another product where I would pay more to not be satisfied. So the next time you are shopping for a new razor, I would highly recommend using any Gillette product for men’s grooming needs.