Gillette is a global leader in shaving and grooming products with its headquarters in Boston. It operates manufacturing units in India and has a diverse product portfolio including razors, blades, and personal care items. The marketing mix discusses Gillette's products like its razors targeted at different income groups, its pricing strategies using premium and average pricing. Promotion strategies include extensive TV, print, and digital advertising campaigns. Gillette distributes products through a network of distributors and sales representatives. It positions its brands as high quality products to occupy a prominent place in the market.
2. GILLETTE
Industry - Consumer goods
Manufacturing Units - Rajasthan ,Haryana & Karnataka
Headquarters - Boston, Massachusetts, United States,
Website - www.gillette.com
3. WHAT IS A MARKETING MIX?
The term was coined by Neil H. Borden in his article 'The Concept of the
Marketing Mix' in 1965.
The 'marketing mix' is probably the most famous phrase in marketing.
The elements are the marketing 'tactics'. Also known as the 'Four Ps', the
marketing mix elements are price, place, product, and promotion.
Some commentators will increase the mix to the 'five Ps', to include
people.
4. ESSENTIALS OF MARKETING MIX:
Product: Defines the characteristics of your product or service that meets the
needs of your customers.
Price: Decide on a pricing strategy - do not let it just happen! Even if you
decide not to charge for a service (a loss leader), you must realise that
this is a conscious decision and forms part of the pricing strategy.
Promotion: This includes all the weapons in the marketing armoury - advertising,
selling, sales promotions, Public Relations, etc.
Place (or route of Some of the revolutions in marketing have come about by changing
distribution): this P. Think of telephone insurance and the internet! A bit of lateral
thinking here might reap rewards for your business.
Now these can be viewed in a
graphical representation:
5. PRODUCT
A product is anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use or
consumption. The primary purpose of a product is to satisfy a want or a need.
Kotler revised the earlier three level classifications to a five product level classifications model.
At the heart of it lies the core product, next the basic product followed by the expected product
and augmented product. The potential product would lie in the outermost circle.
THE GILLETTE CASE
Core Product: Quality of Shave
Basic Product: Razor with comfortable grip, well packed
Expected Product: Blades that do not give cuts or rashes on skin
Augmented Product: Razor with lubrastrip indicating when the blade needs to be replaced, the
anti-clogging push-clean technology, etc.
Potential Product: product customization could be one new development.
6. PRODUCT
Methods used to
improve/differentiate
the product and increase
sales or target sales more
effectively to gain
a competitive advantage e.g.
Extension strategies
Specialised versions
New editions
Improvements – real or
otherwise!
Changed packaging
Technology, etc.
7. GILLETTE
Gillette India Limited Operates in three Segments
Grooming – Manufactures blades ,razors and toiletries
Oral Care – Manufactures tooth brushes and oral care products
Portable Power – Manufactures batteries, torches and lamp some of the
renowned popular razors from Gillette used in India Include
Gillette Presto Ready shaver - Priced lowly thus targeting the low- income
group of consumer
Gillette Sensor Excel –Targeted for the middle – income group
Gillette Mach 3 – Targeted for the high Income Group
8. GILLETTE: THE PRODUCT BASKET
Gillette's Shaving Product Portfolio
Shaving Brush Shaving Preperations
1% Shaving
Preperations
Safety Razor 10% Twin Type Shaving System
Blades cartridge - Manufactured
37% Twin Type Shaving Twin Type Shaving System
System cartridge - cartridge - Imported
Manufactured Safety Razor Blades
Twin Type Shaving 33%
System cartridge -
Shaving Brush
Imported
19%
9. GILLETTE -
BRAND &
PRODUCT MIX
BRAND EXT & P.MIX
SHAVING CREAM PERSONAL CARE DURACEL BATTERY ORAL – B BRAUN APPLIANCES
SHAVING GEL AND GENERAL USE MANNUAL BRAUN KITCHEN
WET SHAVING MEN
FOAM BATTERIES TOOTHBRUSH APPLIANCES
MACH 3,
MACH3 TURBO, GILLETTE SERIES, COPPER TOP, ADVANTAGE, BRAUN HAIR CARE &
SENSOR, SATIN CARE ULTRA, INDICATOR , APILATION
SENSOR EXCEL, PRISMATICS CROSSACTION, STEAM IRON,
SENSOR 3 STAGES PERSONAL
ATRA, GOODNEWS. DIAGNOSTIC
ANTIPERSPIRANT & SPECIALITY POWER
WOMEN’S
DEODORENTS BATTERIES TOOTHBRUSHES
VENUS, GILLETTE SERIES, PHOTO ,HEARING 3D EXCEL,
SENSOR, RIGHT GUARD, AIDS,COMCORDER, 3D PULSATING,
SENSOR EXCEL, SOFT & DRY, WATCH,ELECTRONICS CROSS ACTION,
SENSOR 3, DRY IDEA. HOME MEDICAL. KIDS.
AGILITY.
DRY SHAVING MEN –
FLOSS &
BROUN SYNCRO SYS. INTERDENTAL
WOMEN – TOOTHPEST & MOUTH
RINSE –
• BROUN SILK -APILE
ORAL-B STAGES
10. INDIA MARKET SHARE FOR
BLADES & RAZOR
11%
9% Gillette
GEL
55% 7 O CLOCK
25% Glide
11. TOTAL INDIAN BLADES & RAZORS
MARKET
Disposables
Systems
Replacement
Blades
Rs.000 %
•Systems 102 64
•Disposable 39 25
•Replacement Blades 17 11
13. PRICE
THE GILLETTE CASE
Gillette India ltd. prices its products by taking into account the nine price-quality objectives
and also the pricing objectives. After a detailed analysis of the above guidelines, it has been
consciously using premium pricing for some products and average pricing for some. It
strives for profits, market share and eventually ends up the market leader.
The price cut offer on vector plus was to take on the smuggled versions that had entered the
Indian market.
The hike in the price of presto from Rs 12 to Rs 15 was to induce the customer to move on to
vector plus.
It doesn’t need to follow all the 6 steps of pricing as it is a market leader with no potential
threats. Some steps are redundant. It follows the following steps:
1. Set Pricing Objectives
2. Analyze demand
3. Estimating costs
4. Determine specific prices
Its strategies are very much evident from the pricing of all the Gillette razors and blades.
15. PROMOTION
Promotion keeps the product in the minds of the customer and helps stimulate demand for
the product. A successful product or service means nothing unless the benefit of such a
service can be communicated clearly to the target market. An organizations promotional
strategy can consist of:
Advertising
Public relations
Sales promotion
Personal selling
Direct Mail
THE GILLETTE CASE
TV/Radio – Gillette has an extensive advertisement campaign being run on television.
The company uses a mix strategy for its ad campaigns for different products. It has adopted
the first approach for mach3 & mach3 turbo ads wherein it uses a standardized ad across all
countries, only making changes in the language, colors etc. For the lower segment razors
like vector plus & presto it retains the global theme but adapts it to local market needs.
Whereas Gillette Mach 3, a high end product, has a campaign portraying foreign models to
cash in on the tendency of the Indians that anything associated with foreigners is of good
quality and meant for the higher class.
16. Print – This medium is mainly used by Gillette to spread awareness of their cents-
off deals i.e. their reduced price packs and banded packs. Several ads are flashed
in daily newspapers and magazines to advertise these schemes.
Internet- The Gillette website is excellent and there are dedicated websites for
their new products which present the product and related information in a very
nice manner.
Gillette has country specific website. This helps a customer to identify the product
that they are looking for. In addition, Gillette has a lot of promotions listed in their
website. The website helps in guiding the users learning the right way of shaving.
This helps in stickiness.
Movie/Soaps- This is another avenue Gillette can explore and reap great benefits
from. As we know movies have great influence on not only youth but among all
ages .So Gillette can have tie-ups with movie/producers and can show use of
Gillette products in the same. This can also be a very handy tool to reach the less
educated and lower income groups. Gillette has already associated itself with the
Hollywood movie iRobot, we suggest them to try something similar here.
18. PLACE
PLACE
A place strategy refers to how an organization will distribute the product or service they are
offering to the end user. The organization must distribute the product to the user at the right
place at the right time. Efficient and effective distribution is important if the organization is
to meet its overall marketing objectives. If the organization underestimates demand and
customers cannot purchase products, because of it profitability will be affected.
THE GILLETTE CASE
The appointment of distributors is handled by Gillette India directly. In NCR region, a
separate well-defined area is allocated to each distributor.
The distributor appoints the Field force. This comprises a team who work directly under the
distributor payroll (and not Gillette). The ASM and TSM are on company payroll.
The Territory Sales Manager prepares the TMR (Total Market Report) detailing important
variables like market share, growth trends, etc for the area under him. Also, it is the TSM
who communicates schemes and benefits rolled out by the company to the distributor
who, in turn, informs his Field Force. The TSM meets distributors on a monthly basis for
periodic review. The TSM is responsible for the targets/performance of the area under him
and he is expected to communicate actual results back to the company on a regular basis.
19. POSITIONING
In today’s world of strategy convergence (undifferentiated strategies), pursuing a
meaningful and relevant positioning & differentiation has become imperative for
every company in order to give the customer a reason to demand their products.
THE GILLETTE CASE
Gillette as a market leader has been careful not to boast about its position. Also it has
always introduced new brands to target different market segments (presto for lower
end, mach3 for upper end etc.) instead of bringing about changes in any one
particular razor to maintain the distinct image of each of its razor in the mind of the
customer.
Positioning, as Philip Kotler defines, is the act of designing the company’s offering
and image to occupy a distinctive place in the target market, a sound reason why the
target market should buy the product.
For Gillette, their strength lies in the superior quality of their razors, all of which are
imported from the US (untouched by hand), except for presto and they have used this
strength wisely to position their product over the years. Unquestionable quality of
Gillette products has been the most important factor in making it a market leader.
20. STRENGTHS WEAKNESS
Market Leader Profitability depend on core
business
Strong Brand Image
Relatively Static Market Growth
Global Presence
Heavy Dependence on High
Aggressive Advertising
Street Retail Outlets
Quality & Innovation
Expensive Brand Maintenance
Portfolio Range (Mach 3 etc)
New product launches Immitiation
Price increases in premium segment Cloning of Successful brands
Consumer Brand Preference Increasing Buyer Power
Demand for High Quality (Inventory De-stocking)
Use of JIT and ICT (e-com) Growth in Substitutes
New Production Technology Economic Downturn
Increased Grooming Sophistication
OPPORTUNITIE S THREATS
21. FUTURE STRATEGIES
• High Branding/Quality - Premium Price
• Develop New Market Segments & Niches through R&D
• Maintain/Promote Strong Brand Loyalty
• Tailoring Demographic Targeting (E.g. US vs Europe)
• Reduction in Product Unit Costs
• Grow Razor Systems Segment
• Strategic Alliances (Suppliers and Distributors)
• Shedding Non-Core Businesses (E.g. Papermate)
