GILLETTE 1

Gillette
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BA440
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GILLETTE 2 Gillette is a household word and has been around for over one hundred years. Beginning in 1901, a Gillette has been giving men a clean, safe shave. It began with the single blade safety razor and has evolved into a 5 (+1) blade system. It is easy to recall the days of fathers using the single safety blade system, it seemed to work, but they still suffered the occasional nick and cut. Just like on TV, dads would emerge from the bathroom with tiny bits of toilet paper stuck to their faces to stop the bleeding. Through the years, Gillette has developed many new blade concepts and competitors have jumped in to gain some of the dominance established by Gillette. In a way, Gillette has become a victim of their own success. Like a world class athlete, once you reach the top, you want to stay there. In order to stay at the top, Gillette has had to try and improve on what has already been a proven success. In order to improve, money has been spent on development and production along with marketing and advertising. Along with higher production costs comes the increase costs passed on to consumers. The latest and greatest comes with a higher price tag. Some say that product innovation in the wet-shaving market has come to an end. From the step up to a twin blade razor like the Atra or the three bladed Mach 3 there has been the four bladed Quatro and even the five bladed Fusion. These sound like they would be continually getting better and better, but is their advertised performance worth the heftier price tag? According to Consumer Reports “there were no additional performance benefits provided by the five bladed Fusion, especially when compared to the Mach 3.” (Ferrell/Hartline 2011, p. 391) So, the innovations will most likely continue however, will there be anything