Clean Edge Razor: Splitting Hairs in Product Positioning

1. What changes are occurring in the non-disposable razor category? Assess Paramount’s competitive position. What are the strategic life-cycle challenges for Paramount’s current products as well as Clean Edge?

I would recommend launch “Clean Edge” as a “niche” positioning. This would help paramount to become a revolutionary leader in non-disposable segment, focusing on highly

Robyn should start by getting more understanding about the product, afterward she must wrestle with the issue of what directional path the company should take and what changes in the company’s product-market-customer-technology focus would improve its current market position and future prospects. Deciding to commit the company to one path versus another pushes managers to draw some carefully reasoned conclusions about how to try to modify the company’s business makeup and the market position it should stake out. She must consider a number of direction-shaping factors where to head and why such a direction makes a good business sense.

1. The objective of the strategic analysis was to identify which products were world-class in terms of “competitive position and potential,” products which could become world-class, and products which have no hope of becoming world-class.

Therefore, it really needed a strong product that responded the market’s needs and wants so that the product could speak itself in order to survive the keen competition.

To develop such strategy mix of strategic options will be applied including Integration to deal with competition and Intensive + Diversification strategies for product and market development.

The main idea in the article “Product Placement and Advergming” by Michael Solomon is the usage of real products or brands in fictional movies, television shows, and video games and its effects on todays’ growing economy. The first point that the author brings up is that at one time in history the television networks ordered that if a name brand product was to be operated into in any film, it needed to be altered. Solomon gives the example of Melrose Place transforming the name of a cell phone from “Nokia” to “Nokio”. However, in today’s media world there is a widespread variety of name brands incorporated into the networks. Sometimes companies pay billions of dollars to get recognition and other times they just get lucky with free advertisement. Correspondingly, the author states that now- a- days it is so common to see products

Synopsis: Gillette has long been known for innovation in both product development and marketing strategy. In the highly competitive, but mature, razor and blade market, Gillette holds a commanding worldwide market share. The peak of its innovation occurred in 2006 with the introduction of the Fusion 5-bladed razor. Today, innovation in razors and blades is thwarted by a lack of new technology and increasing consumer reluctance to pay for the “latest and greatest” in shaving technology. Gillette must decide how to put the razor wars behind them and maintain or increase its share of the global razor market.

The positioning strategy should be driven by the market, rather than by the ambitions of the product champions. The source of the problem is failure to understand how consumers' value product attributes. In all, over-appreciating a breakthrough or new technology that

Paramount has become a market leader in global consumer products; but knows that innovation is vital to continue success. Paramount has used technology to create an innovative razor, but wants to make sure that it is positioned effectively.

New Product Development : the aggressive investment strategy into R&D division led to speed in releasing new products in the market. This gave the company higher ROI returns projections. The faster cycle of innovation led to multiple product availability in the market which led to further increasing the gap between them and the competitions and also the company indulged in manufacturing self brand products rather than Co-branded or Partnerships.

For this reason, Gillette has always been trying to innovate in the market with new products. But they did not want their product to be bought just because they are a novelty but because it was perceived by the customer as a good quality product and have a staying power and product loyalty. This can be illustrated by the launch of the “Fusion” product by

Present sales of the Paramount in razor industry come to $170 million and Paramount Pro contributes to this significantly. By introducing Clean Edge in the mainstream sector a 60% fall in the sales of Pro is predicted and the revenue generated by it will come down to $68 million. But it is expected that clean edge will generate a revenue of $147.8 million* and in turn Paramount can achieve a net sales of $215.8 million. Marketing cost is approximated to $42 million and Paramount will be able to generate a profit of $173.8 million. If they had positioned it in the niche segment they would lose only 35% sales of Pro. But at the same time, due to the constraints in the market clean edge can raise sales of only $52.8 million and the net sales will total to $163.3 million. Here the marketing cost is approximated to $15 million and the revenue generated will amount to $148.3 million. Thus the figures clearly indicate that concentrating the mainstream would be more beneficial. Also Paramount will be able to achieve a profit margin of $3.09 per unit even after providing distributors a margin of $3.36 per unit.

Gillette is seeking means to retain dominance in market share they have lead for the last century. Along with sustaining market share Gillette has continued focus on expanding worldwide into less saturated markets. In this analysis multiple alternatives will be explored in order to make a recommendation on steps that would favor Gillette’s organization in meeting their aspirations.

- Since PUMA has such a diverse price range in its products, there high end products might not be successful because of the