FINAL REPORT

ON

GILLETTE SHAVING
FOAM/GEL
“THE BEST A MAN CAN GET”

SUBMITTED TO - SUBMITTED BY:-

Dr. H. GAYATHRI SECTION - C
GROUP - 2
AMOGH BENGERI (16122)
DIMPI KUMARI (16134)
NAGPRATHEEK B.T (16146)
ROHIT M (16158)
SUMANTH KAMATH (16170)
Contents
PERSONAL GROOMING PRODUCTS ........................................................................................................ 1
Shaving Cream Industry ...................................................................................................................... 1
Procter and Gamble ................................................................................................................................ 2
Gillette................................................................................................................................................. 2
Gillette India............................................................................................................................................ 2
Gillette’s strategy in India ................................................................................................................... 4
Sales .................................................................................................................................................... 4
Structure ............................................................................................................................................. 4
MARKET SHARE OF SHAVING CREAM ..................................................................................................... 5
Market Segmentation of Gillette ............................................................................................................ 6
Segmentation of Gillette shaving foam/gel India ............................................................................... 7
POSITIONING........................................................................................................................................... 9
BRAND WITH RESPECT TO 4 P’S ............................................................................................................ 10
PRODUCT .......................................................................................................................................... 10
Price .................................................................................................................................................. 11
Place .................................................................................................................................................. 11
Promotion ......................................................................................................................................... 12
COMPETITORS OF GILLETTE SHAVING FOAM/GEL ............................................................................... 13
VI-JOHN ............................................................................................................................................. 13
AXE .................................................................................................................................................... 14
NIVEA ................................................................................................................................................ 14
DETTOL SHAVING FOAM ................................................................................................................... 15
SWOT ANALYSIS .................................................................................................................................... 16
STRENGTHS ....................................................................................................................................... 16
WEAKNESS ........................................................................................................................................ 17
OPPORTUNITIES ................................................................................................................................ 18
THREATS ............................................................................................................................................ 18
RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................................................................................... 19
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................................................... 21
SECTION-C | GROUP-2 FINAL REPORT - GILLETTE

GILLETTE SHAVING FOAM/GEL

Sector FMCG
Category Grooming(men)
Parent company P&G
Product Gillette foam/gel

PERSONAL GROOMING PRODUCTS

The men’s grooming industry is the fastest growing markets in India. The
market witnessed the introduction of a host of shaving creams over the past few
years. Nowadays people have the choice of selecting a shaving cream based on
their requirement and their skin type. Men’s grooming industry registered a
strong growth since 2014. Men’s grooming is expected to grow at a CAGR rate
of 7% during the forecast period 2014-2019. This growth will be associated
with increased awareness of these products across the semi-urban and rural
male consumer base. According to a study conducted recently by the Indian
Industry Body ASSOCHAM (Association of chambers of commerce), it was
found that Indian men spend approximately $100 more than women for their
personal care products.

Shaving Cream Industry

Shaving cream is one of the most inevitable grooming products for men.
Shaving creams should be of very good quality because of the fact that facial
skin is more sensitive than skin at other parts of the body. Since shaving is
almost a necessity today and a frequent process, the quality of the shaving
cream is of prime importance. At present, Gillette by Procter and Gamble is the
top shaving cream brand in India. Shaving creams contributes almost 30% of
the total sales of the personal care segment of men in India. The market value of
shaving creams is estimated to be Rs. 244 crore and the total shaving cream
market by volume is above 4,447,850 Kg.

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Procter and Gamble

Procter and Gamble is an American consumer goods corporation with many
globally marketed brands. P&G is the largest and fastest growing consumer
goods companies in India. The company entered the Indian market in the year
1964 and is now serving more than 670 million consumers across the country.
P&G has its range spread across the grooming segment, household segment and
health and wellbeing segment. Under P&G there are brands like Vicks,
Whisper, Ariel, Olay, Tide, Gillette, Ambipur, oral-B, Head and Shoulders,
Pampers, Pantene and Duracell. Predominant product recommendations and
technological innovations have empowered P&G to be recognised as a market
leader. P&G operates under three entities in India, among which two entities are
“Proctor and Gamble Hygiene and Health Care ltd” and “Gillette India ltd”.

Gillette
Gillette is a brand of men’s grooming products which includes men’s safety
razors, shaving foam/gel, after shave lotion, deodorants and other personal care
products. Gillette has also entered into women’s grooming product sector with
their products such as Venus (women’s safety razor) and satin care (female hair
removal gel). Gillette has also secured top spot in stationary sector with their
brands such as Paper mate, Parker and Waterman. Apart from the above
mentioned stationary brands Gillette has also shown its presence in oral care
segment (Oral-B) and alkaline batteries (Duracell products generating one
fourth of the company profits). Gillette keeps up 64 manufacturing facilities in
27 nations, and its products are being sold in more than 200 countries, with
more than 60% of sales happening outside the United States. Gillette has been
in the market for over 100 years and has 600 million loyal customers across the
globe.

Gillette India
The Company was started in 1984 in Rajasthan. The launch was jointly
promoted by House of Poddar Enterprises (HOPE) and Gillette Company
(U.S.A). Gillette India manufactures stainless steel razor and blades. Gillette
India concentrates on the manufacturing and marketing of Gillette grooming
products and also carries out distribution of Oral-B and Duracell products.
Almost 60% of the products that are sold in India are manufactured locally by
Gillette India.

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Gillette signed a foreign collaboration with HOPE in view of setting up a

company for the manufacture of stainless steel blades and for which Gillette
agreed to subscribe 24% of the total equity capital. The agreement gave Gillette
technical collaboration over the full range of technical know-how and
assistance. Procter and Gamble, USA acquired the Gillette Company, USA in
the year 2005 and is now the largest Consumer products company in the world.
Gillette has been relying upon extensive research and development to create a
single product for global distribution. In India P&G acquired Gillette on a $57
billion deal.
Gillette has been the market leader in men’s grooming products with their brand
image and innovation.
Divisions of Gillette:
 Shaving razors
 Shaving foam/gel
 Skin care
The Razor category for men in India includes Gillette Vector, Gillette Mach3,
Gillette mach3 turbo, Gillette mach3 turbo sensitive, Gillette guard, Gillette
fusion, Gillette fusion flex ball and Gillette fusion power shaving. Gillette also
deals with razors for women with their product Gillette Venus.
Gillette shaving foam/gel range includes Gillette Fusion Hydra Gel, Gillette
series sensitive skin foam, Gillette aftershave and Gillette classic shave foam
sensitive skin.
Gillette is also concerned with skin care products for men such as Gillette
skincare foaming wash, Gillette skin care scrub and Gillette skincare facial
moisturizer.
Gillette has been the leader in men’s grooming industry in India and all over the
globe. It has the wide range of products (mentioned above) that caters to the
premium segment of the grooming market in India. The company faces tough
competition in the shaving foam/gel market whereas very little competition in
the shaving razor market. Gillette has totally dominated the shaving razor
market with its top notch products and innovative technology. In light of the
intense competition that Gillette is facing in the shaving Foam/Gel market,
Gillette has to cater to the various needs of the consumers.

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Gillette’s strategy in India

The shaving products market in India is characterized by a 97% share of
double-edged blades. Gillette focused on premium products rather than
attacking them head-on. Their strategy was to bring more people into the twin-
edged segment, and gradually move then to the premium products. The
consumers were purchasing more on shaving cream accessories. Then they tried
to make the consumers to move into gel and foam segments, and thereafter are
trying to move them into buying premium products offered by Gillette.

Sales
Gillette India’s sales had a drastic increase of around 106 percent to Rs. 516.80
crores after the company merged with other companies. But the operating profit
margins of the company’s merged entities has been on a declining trend though,
which resulted an increase in Gillette India’s operating profits. The operating
profits of the company showcased an increase of 38 percent to 67.16 crore. This
shows that the companies who merged with Gillette have far low levels of
profitability than Gillette India.

Structure

The organizational structure of P&G is broadly divided into three units, they are
 Global business unit (GBU)
 Market Development Organization (MDO)
 Global Business Services (GBS)
Gillette shifted its operations from business units based on the geographic
regions to GBUs based on the product lines.

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MARKET SHARE OF SHAVING CREAM

Sales

29%

Vi-John
41% Dettol
Axe
Gillette
Godrej
Old Spice
Others
9%

7%
5%
5% 4%

The market share pie chart shown above clearly indicates that the market is
dominated by Vi-John shaving cream with a solid market share of 29% of the
total shaving cream market. The brands Dettol and Axe have 9% and 7% of
market share respectively. Gillette shaving creams have the least market share
of 4%. It is mainly because of Gillette’s focus on the premium segment shaving
foam and gel rather than the normal shaving creams offered to the mass
segment by the other competitor brands. Godrej and Old Spice (P&G) have a
5% market share each in the total shaving cream market. The rest 41% of
market is captured by other shaving cream brands which include local brands
also.

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Market Segmentation of Gillette

In the shaving cream/foam/gel market, there are different types of customers

having different needs and willing to spend different amount for products they
find that matches their needs. Gillette can identify the needs of the customers
and can take the advantage of targeting the segments that has not been targeted
by introducing shaving creams. Taking the various economic factors that is
pricing and demand into consideration, the Indian market can be broadly
divided into three segments. The prominent factors influencing these segments
are
 Importance of attributes
 Price sensitivity
 Influence on customers due to additional features
 Point of purchase decision makers
The following segments have been taken into consideration,
 Segment one:
This segment is very much price sensitive and gives the least value to the
additional features. Gillette being a premium brand that focuses on
differentiating its products from its competitors and upgrading customers
in the value chain, targeting this segment will not be a wise decision by
the company.

 Segment two:
This segment consists of people who are very much influenced by the
attributes and features of the products and are not price sensitive in
nature. This segment caters to more than one fourth of the market sample.
Gillette with its wide range of shaving gel and foam series targets this
segment which will help the company in fetching more loyal customers in
the premium segment category.

 Segment three:
This segment includes customers who are concerned about the attributes
which the product offers and also the additional features of the products.
Considering these factors, the customers in this segment are also highly
price sensitive as well. This segment comprises of more than 40% of the
market. Gillette targets this segment by offering shaving creams and basic
shaving foam, which are not priced high like the premium foam/gel
offered by the company.

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Gillette’s consumer audience analysis and understanding their needs is the key
to their product uptake. The company could very well discover brand and
product interest from various new segments. This is one big step often
overlooked in Marketing due to time restraints, cost and other factors.
Considering the decline in the segment of 18-24 year old men (they are losing
interest to shave on a regular basis), then the company should find out the age
groups who aren’t losing interest in shaving and focus more marketing and
advertising strategies in that segment.

Segmentation of Gillette shaving foam/gel India

 Demographic Segmentation: Gillette India has been targeting the

premium and upper middle class segments in the country. Gillette has a
wide range of products for the premium class like fusion hydra gel pure
& sensitive shave gel which are highly priced for the smooth shave
experience it offers. The company also has products for upper middle
class like the Foamy shave foam and sensitive shave foam which are
priced lower than the above mentioned products by which Gillette can
target the middle class and increase their market share.

 Geographic Segmentation: Gillette India mainly targets the urban and

the semi urban areas. The company being a seller of premium shaving
accessories, is concentrating only the cities and other major towns across
the nation where they will be able to find the type of customers the
company is targeting at. Gillette has not shown its presence much in the
rural market, because the segmentation strategy put forward by the
company will not match the customer base in those regions. But over the
years, Gillette has been offering its normal shave foam (Small dispenser)
in the rural areas as well to find customer feedback from these areas.

 Behavioural Segmentation: Gillette India targets this segment mainly

considering the below mentioned categories,

o User Status: Gillette has been targeting the regular users mainly in
the urban areas where the company was capturing a noticeable
amount of brand recall amongst the customers. Regular users are
mostly the working class and elder citizens, who have been shaving
regularly and are loyal users of the Gillette shaving foam/gel.
Gillette also targets the youth in this segment by introducing them

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to a wide range of products to choose from. Gillette was

successfully able to convert these young users to regular users of
Gillette shaving products. The company targets the first time users
from interior areas as well by launching entry level shaving foam
in 60gm tube for the customers in these region to get familiarised
with Gillette products and also having kept in mind of converting
these non-users to users of the company’s products.

o Usage status: The Company has categorised usage status of

shaving foam/gel into three categories. Heavy users are the ones
who are frequently using shaving products. Gillette has been
constantly targeting this particular segment of the country which
gives the company maximum profit. The heavy user’s category
customers are the ones residing in the urban cities and other
metropolitan cities across the country. Medium users are the users
of the semi urban areas of the nation, who are into shaving
products but not as frequent as the heavy users are. These
customers consider themselves to shave on alternate days or once
in three days as per a study conducted. Gillette has also been
targeting this particular segment by providing them products with
flexible pricing and captured the market. Light users are ones who
rarely get a shave done or are not into grooming like how the other
segment customers do. These users mostly reside in the rural and
other interior areas of the nation. Gillette has in fact introduced
products on consideration of the segment needs to understand the
user feedback from these areas.

 Target Segment: Gillette has always been targeting the teenagers who
are new to shaving by launching sensitive shave gels. Gillette’s focus was
mainly on teenagers and youth segment, which is why in the promotion
of its products, it is always shown to have a cool image. The company
also targets the age group of 20-45, who are the frequent users of the
shaving products on offer. The probable segments which Gillette targets
are the young adults, teenagers and working segment for quick shaving.

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POSITIONING

The Gillette products have positioned themselves in such a way that they are
above old spice, Colgate and Palmolive and this would attract more customers
for them. According to a survey conducted, it has been found that the brand
value recall for Gillette is above 57%. This is a big proof that people recall it in
their mind therefore giving Gillette a strong positioning in the men’s grooming
department and Gillette needs to maintain this position for as long as possible.
This can be done in the best possible manner by the company by changing the
attributes of their target segment by enriching the attributes such as the brand
name, foam formation, aroma. As far as possible, the company should also try
to reduce the importance which is given to the pricing of the products. This will
help the company in maintaining the strong position in the market.

As of now, Gillette has got only a small share in the shaving cream segment
market but if it adopts these strategies and apply it well, it can gradually but
surely increase its market share.

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BRAND WITH RESPECT TO 4 P’S

PRODUCT
Gillette has been remaining the market leader in the razor division of the men’s
grooming segment. Considering the facts like the company being the leader for
providing high performance razors, the high brand awareness of the company
and the very high brand equity of the company, it very much helped in
developing the entire value chain of the men’s grooming industry.

Gillette products in the shaving cream/gel/foam department-

Gillette has a range of shaving products for offering for different types of skins
and user requirements. Describing a few points technically, gel has got few
advantages over cream like gel gives the skin more lubrication and this gives
more anti-frictional properties, so this enhances the effectiveness of the razor’s
glide on skin. Normally, gel includes additional ingredients like moisturizer,
Aloe Vera, vitamin E etc.

Foams have been given the label of having optimum lather which is required for
shaving. While using foams, the user needs to do minimum effort to have a
shave.

Gillette’s shaving gel/foam products come under the brand name of “Gillette
series”. All the 10 variants are in the premium segment. The shaving gel and
foam is very much commoditized in India and it has also been found that 81%
of the Indian consumers use cream instead of gels or foams.

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Price
The customers in this target segment of Gillette are not very price sensitive.
Gillette has nine product variants of shaving gel/foam for the Indian market. All
the nine products are in the premium category ranging from 53 rupees to 350
rupees for the minimum and maximum. Gillette has priced its shaving gel and
foams well above the industry average. The pricing strategy suggests that
Gillette is leveraging its customer loyalty (i.e. the consumers who are brand
loyal to Gillette razors).
Bundle Pricing
Bundle pricing has always been the technique for shaving foal/gel products.
This practice is mostly carried out for the reason that shaving foams/gels are
usually purchased together with the razors/aftershaves. This technique is often
used to sell products which are complementary to the main product. The
advantage for buyers are that they get the overall cost of purchase to show
considerable amount of savings when compared to purchasing each of these
products separately.

Place
Gillette has a very robust distribution network. The advantage for them is that
they have P&G’s distribution network in addition to Gillette India’s existing
one. Here, the distribution network consists of the own network and that
franchisee. Gillette India has the same distribution network and the distributors
in the cities that P&G operates with. This distribution network actually follows
a hub and spoke model. The hubs are 20 cities. The spokes are the various Tier
2 and Tier 3 cities and towns around the major hub.
Taking an example, if Mumbai is the hub city, the spoke cities can be
considered as Indore, Dadar and nagar haveli, pune, Aurangabad and Panaji. In
these cities, the distribution is managed by the exclusive distributors in those
cities. Also, every city would have only one franchisee distributor. These tier 2
and tier 3 cities or spokes actually act as a feeder market to the hubs. A set of
employees would be working under each franchisee distributor. The fleet costs
that are incurred to supply to the retailers are managed by the distributors. Here,
there are no wholesalers. Gillette also has operations in exclusive distribution
through various e-commerce websites. Taking an example, the new Gillette
body razor is exclusively available on amazon.

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Promotion

Gillette invests billions of dollars on its advertising. They have used an

emotional marketing strategy in order to market their products. The
advertisements of Gillette have always been smooth and cool giving an
unstoppable feeling. They were able to build brand identity with marketing and
sales in mind. The advertisements of Gillette shows models with confidence and
unbeatable feeling on their face which will in turn transform the mindset of the
buyer. The prime focus of marketing is on the emotion rather than the product
itself. The advertisements have changed a basic act of shaving into a grooming
ritual there by evoking a strong response amongst the viewers.

Gillette has put forward a lot of efforts in extensive promotion campaigns for its
shaving creams or gels along with razors in the Indian market which includes
promotional offers like win tickets to the Australian Open finals, the shave India
movement and it also had a tie up with ZAPAK for the India Gaming
Championship in 2009 and uses social networking sites like Facebook to
promote the various products offered by it and also to carry out different
surveys.

Usually, there is at least one trade promotion activity done across the 10 product
variants of Gillette throughout the year. These trade promotions include 33%
extra on various variants.

Gillette has had extensive promotions for its razors in the Indian market and the
global market. David Beckham, Tiger Woods, Roger Federer and Thierry Henry
are a few of Gillette’s global ambassadors called Gillette Champions. But
Gillette has not introduced any brand ambassador for its shaving foam/gel in the
Indian market. However Rahul Dravid and few other well-known celebrities
have done couple of ads for Gillette razors in India. Gillette has never
introduced an advertisement dedicatedly for its shaving foam/gel. In fact there
was only one ad for Gillette series shaving gel which is not shown prominently.
Gillette has co-advertised its shaving foam/gel along with its shaving razor
(Mach3, Fusion) ads, by which they can bring the customer to notice both the
razor and shaving gel products offered by the company.

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COMPETITORS OF GILLETTE SHAVING

FOAM/GEL

VI-JOHN

VI-JOHN group introduced VI-JOHN shaving cream in the year 1960. VI-
JOHN is India’s biggest selling shaving product brand. The VI-JOHN brand
includes shaving cream, shaving foam, and skin & haircare products. VI-JOHN
has attained a turnover of rupees 250 crores by implementing aggressive pricing
strategy. The VI-JOHN has its distribution network all over the northern India
and eastern part of India. VI-JOHN also covers some part of the west. The
company has 2500 distributors covering 300,000 retail outlets all over the
nation.
According to the latest Nielsen MAT data sourced from the industry officials,
VI-JOHN’S volume market share in India stood at 29.2%, over 3 times that of
Dettol, almost 4 times that of Axe and over 7 times that of GILLETTE.

PRODUCT WEIGHT (gms) PRICE (Rs.)

Vi- John Shaving Foam 250gm, 400gm 340
for Sensitive Skin
Vi- John Shaving Foam 250gm, 400gm 340
for Hard Skin
Vi- John Shaving Foam 250gm, 400gm 340
Regular

Shaving Cream Lime 30gm, 70gm, 125 gm 24

Shaving Cream Regular 30gm, 70gm, 125 gm 24

Shaving Cream Menthol 30gm, 70gm, 125 gm 24

Shaving Cream 70gm + 21gm (free) 70

Premium
Shaving Gel 60gm 50

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AXE

Hindustan Unilever Ltd manufactures axe denim lather shaving cream. It is a

popular brand when it comes to men’s grooming products for a very long time
and, it has been successfully maintaining a standards throughout. Axe has a
value market share of 12.9%. Axe does not have a large product line when it
comes to shaving foam/gel/cream, in comparison with the other competitors.
But axe with its deodorant and other accessories advertisements and promotion
has been able to capture a significant amount of the market, which in turn
helped them in capturing shaving cream market as well with just a small width
of product line in practice.

PRODUCT WEIGHT (gms) PRICE (Rs.)

Axe Lather Shaving 30 gm, 60 gm 35, 65
Cream - Denim

Axe after shave lotion – 50 ml 120

Denim
Axe after shave lotion – 100 ml 200
Dark Temptation
Axe after shave lotion - 50 ml 120
Pulse

NIVEA

NIVEA the leading international skin care companies with more than 130 years
of experience. The brand is owned by the company based out of Hamburg
called Beiersdorf global AG. The company was founded in March 1882. In
India, Nivea has almost 15% of the brands personal care revenues emerging
from men’s products. Nivea was and still is known for its product quality and
brand equity. Besides these, one prominent feature of Nivea is its attractive
packaging and product reformulation. Continuous innovation and catering to
consumer needs has helped Nivea to achieve the growth which the company is
now utilising. Nivea also introduced shaving kit concept with most of the
required shaving accessories in one box. Actor Arjun Rampal is the brand
ambassador for Nivea products.

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PRODUCT WEIGHT (gms) PRICE (Rs.)

Sensitive Shaving Foam 200 ml 120

After Shave Lotion 100ml 200

After Shave Balm 100 ml 225

DETTOL SHAVING FOAM

DETTOL is a standout amongst the most trusted health and hygiene care brand
for men, women and children. It is manufactured by Reckitt Benckiser. Apart
from hygiene care products, Dettol also brings the best quality shaving creams.
Dettol launched its shaving cream in the year 1996 as an extension from the
brand. Dettol has a value market share of 10.8%.

PRODUCT WEIGHT (gms) PRICE (Rs.)

Original Fresh Shaving 200 ml 148

Foam

Cool Shaving Foam 200 ml 165

Cool Lather Shaving 60 gms 55

Cream

Shaving Cream Fresh 60 gms 62

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SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS

 Gillette contains well established brands in its portfolio such as Gillette

and Braun, Oral-B line and Duracell. This helps the company in easing
the introduction of its new products, because of the reason that consumers
are already well acquainted with the names as well as more receptive to
the promises of improved user experiences.

 Product differentiation is one of the biggest strengths of Gillette when it

comes to shaving foam/gel. Gillette has introduced a wide range of
products in shaving foam/gel category with minor changes which
differentiate one from the other. This will help customers to have
different choices to select from. For example: Gillette has its signature
shaving gel product called Gillette Sensitive Gel in the market. The
company has also introduced two new shaving gels with the name
Gillette Sensitive Fusion and Gillette Sensitive Fusion ProGlide, which
have subtle difference. This is the product differentiation that Gillette has
come up with.

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 Product Reformulation has always been Gillette’s main strengths as they

have been launching new products with variations and have been
successful in making considerable sales from those products. This has
also helped the brand to maintain a good reputation in the market by
satisfying the customers. Gillette has consistently reformulating its
products by inducing better components and materials for the shaving
foam/gel production thereby producing better products for the shaving
cream market.

 Gillette always kept its product packing very attractive with the use of
vibrant colours and catching design of their dispensers. All the shaving
foam/gel products of Gillette are very easy to use and hence customers
are highly satisfied and this helped the company to attain better consumer
brand recall and hence a good position in the market.

WEAKNESS

 The main weakness of the brand is the price. Gillette shaving foam/gel
products are priced much higher than the products offered by the
competitors in the market. It is strength and the quality image of the
brand which is one reason why Gillette products are priced high in the
market. But this has been given the company a small drawback when it
comes to customer feedback, where most consumers opt for products
available in cheaper prices especially in the Indian market.

 All variants of Gillette foam/gel are not available in all the retail stores or
shops. Gillette heavily depends on large retail outlets or supermarkets in
tier 1 cities. The shaving gel – Gillette Mach3 Irritation defence and
Gillette Fusion Pro-Glide are only available at most metro cities and
select tier 2 cities. The other range of shaving gels are available in most
cities and towns but in very few quantities. Gillette only offers its basic
shaving foam and gel on all retail outlets and towns.

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OPPORTUNITIES

 The Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of the shaving cream

market in India is calculated at 7% for the years 2014-2019. This will
give Gillette immense opportunity for showcasing new and improved
products in the future.

 New product launches is what Gillette should be focusing more on.

Gillette should introduce shaving foam/gel which will give the users
similar effects like what a face wash provides, there by users will
experience an oil free fresh feel after the shave. Gillette can also
concentrate on developing shaving foam/gel which will help reducing
skin boils and acne among the young consumers.

 Gillette has introduced one product (Venus) for female consumers.

Gillette should here on focus on introducing more products for women
which will help them attain a better position in the market.

THREATS

 The major threat for Gillette India is the competition the company is
facing over the years. Brands like Vi-John and Godrej have products
priced lower than the Gillette products, which is a serious threat to the
brand. Gillette should find ways to get over the competition pressure and
look forward to attain market leader position in the future.

 Another major threat to the company is the excessive use of Electric

shaving methods in this present generation where people are more
concerned of saving time and get done with what they are involved in
quickly as possible. Gillette should take this on a priority and find
measures to overcome this threat by innovating better and competitive
techniques which will make the customers to come back to using Gillette
products.

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SECTION-C | GROUP-2 FINAL REPORT - GILLETTE

RECOMMENDATIONS

 Since Gillette has the advantage of having wide and deep product line in
men’s shaving market, it can act more like a double edged sword for the
reason that Gillette has a wide range of products in offer and can result in
cannibalisation. Considering the cities where Gillette’s products have
almost reached maturity stage in the product lifecycle, there the company
can think of venturing into the neighbouring global markets.

 Gillette has still not explored the shaving cream market in India. The only
shaving cream which the company launched was the “7o’ Clock shaving
cream”, which was a total disaster. Hence Gillette should develop a
shaving cream which will cater the needs of the mass segment mostly
dominated by the competitor products. Gillette was only focusing on the
shaving foam/gel products totally.

 Gillette should consider launching a shaving cream which will

successfully enter the mass market of men’s shaving products, more like
what the company did with their razor products. The main focus of
Gillette can be producing a shaving cream which is more “Indian”, using
natural and herbal ingredients by which the company can extend its reach
to the mass segment which is highly price sensitive and has never been a
loyal segment in the market.

 Another important finding of our study was that the customers were
unaware of the fact that Gillette has nine variants in shaving foam/gel
category alone. This can be mainly because of the following reasons:

o Gillette has high brand equity but the category development is very
low
o Most consumers have low involvement or search for less
information, which implies that shaving cream/gel/foam is more of
a commodity.
o Gillette has only spent on advertising its razors. Gillette never
came up with a dedicated advertisement for its shaving foam/gel
alone. This has resulted in limited information available for the
public about the different shaving foam/gel products the company
offers.

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SECTION-C | GROUP-2 FINAL REPORT - GILLETTE

 The company has to give more priority to its promotional activities than
what it is been currently carried out, in order to increase customer loyalty
and repeat purchase of their shaving foam/gel products.

 The promotion strategy of Gillette should be in such a way that the

company introduces more of a pull effect in all its advertisements that
will communicate not just the price of its products and the
offers/discounts associated with it, but also the values and attributes
which the consumer can relate to. More information has to be conveyed
to the consumers through ads, trade promotions etc.

 Gillette should further consider pricing its products on par to that of the
competitor’s product pricing by which the customers will thereby
consider Gillette products instead of the other shaving brand foam/gel.

 Gillette should also increase the distribution of its shaving foam/gel

products across all cities and major towns where the company is
targeting. One recommendation is to make available all the product
ranges of shaving gels in all the major towns as well so that the customer
satisfaction rate can be increased drastically.

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SECTION-C | GROUP-2 FINAL REPORT - GILLETTE

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 https://www.wikipedia.org/
 http://www.gillette.com/
 http://www.economictimes.com
 https://www.scribd.com/
 http://finance.yahoo.com/news/india-mens-grooming-products-market-
153800753.html
 http://pitchonnet.com/blog/2015/06/22/male-grooming-products-age-
market-explodes-india/
 http://www.businesstoday.in/magazine/cover-story/india-small-brands-vi-
john/story/184702.html
 http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-07-
08/news/64212207_1_vi-john-vimal-pande-dettol
 http://brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com/
 http://www.business-standard.com/
 http://www.marketing91.com/marketing-mix-of-gillette/

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