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Marketing: Gillette

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Executive Summary

Gillette ultimately succeeded due to their ability to mold their product and marketing to India’s uncommon market. Gillette was also very fortunate to get pop-culture to buy into their vision of a clean shaven India. The power of media and culture cannot be overstated.

Gillette faced several issues in 2008, as it attempted to grow the Mach3 brand in India. While there was ample opportunity for growth in India’s market, based on the 400 million men of shaving age, India’s market did not value razor technology as highly as the US market. This was due to the consumer’s risk averse nature and the fact that they did not make purchasing decision lightly.

When looking at the consumer buying decision process, Gillette faced hurdles at nearly every stage. When classifying need recognition, Gillette had to deal with the perception that the nicks and cuts of the conventional double-blade were simply inevitable, which stood in the way of Gillette justifying the higher priced razors to this market. Further, facial hair in India was fashionable, thus the average consumer did not express a need to be clean shaved everyday. In addition, Gillette encountered problems with the consumer’s information search, which did not involve men openly talking about their shaving habits as many men did in other markets. The alternative evaluation stage was likely Gillette’s biggest obstacle: consumers had too many cheap alternatives. The Gillette razors were priced ten times above that of disposable blades and about forty times that of double edge blades. In addition, “nearly half of all shaving men regularly visited a barber, and half of those men exclusively visited a barber for all their shaving needs.”

One of Gillette’s biggest issues with the Mach3 in India was the retail price offered to consumers. After determining that the India market was not

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