What Are The Key Success Factor In The Male Shaving Market?

2) How is the nondisposable razor market segmented? What are the crucial elements of consumer behavior for nondisposable razors?

* Male grooming product seemed to be a bright spot in the industry with the advent of male-specific personal care products that outpaced the growth in women’s beauty market

A group of executives from Paramount Health and Beauty Company (Paramount) sat in a research room intently observing a dozen men shaving on the other side of a two-way mirror. The subjects were testing out Paramount’s newest nondisposable razor, Clean Edge, and discussing the experience. The verdict was extremely encouraging. The majority of men felt it was the closest, cleanest, and smoothest shave they had encountered. All executives at Paramount agreed Clean Edge should be priced in the super-premium segment of the market. However, some executives believed Clean Edge should be launched as a mainstream entry

ASC 320-10-35-33F: “Changes in the quality of the credit enhancement should be considered when estimating whether a credit loss exists and the period over which the debt security is expected to recover.”

Shakespeare Inc., a private publishing company issued its F/S on March 20, 2012. There were several accruals and events that the management of Shakespeare is considering to determine if they should be recognized or disclosed in Dec 31, 2011 F/S. In my opinion, the important things to focus on subsequent events are the period they effect and if their influence is material or not, so that in conclusion, the F/S are fairly presented.

The company offered a new product, safety razors and blades, a product of convenience at a reasonable price. Gillette had a few lean years to establish a customer base. To attract new customers Gillette tried advertising by putting his face stamped on the thin razor blades, and then gave away the razor as a free gift. The razor was useless without the blades. The marketing gimmick of “FREE” worked! Gillette gave free razors that then created a demand for the blades. Gillette sold razors in bulk at discounted prices to banks so they could use them as give away when you opened an account, the” Shave and Save” campaigns were huge success. Gillette took it even further when he then sold to the Wrigley’s gum company; packets of coffee, tea, spices, and marshmallows. Gillette sold millions of razors at steep discount to the Army hoping the habits soldiers developed at war

The introduction of the Sensor Shaving System, one of the biggest product launches ever, forced Gillette to reevaluate its strategy in its shaving and non-shaving business. It had to decide whether to go ahead with the launch and if so, at what scale.

Factoring in the bullish nature of the industry, we conservatively estimated to reach a 1.25% market share of the hair removal industry, overall accounting for 956,522 units. The period costs associated with this initiative are comprised of multiple sub costs: Promotion expense, R&D costs, rent expense, website related expenses (creation and maintenance), and shipping costs. All in all, this accounts for $516,333 of total costs. Moreover, when broken down into period cost per unit and added to product cost per unit, the total product cost equals $3.76. Due to low brand awareness and lack of customer base, we estimated that 70% of sales will come from intermediaries, and 30% from our online store. This results in a website contribution margin of $8.78 and retailer contribution margin of $4.50 (Exhibit ). Subsequently, a tax rate of 23.96% (Exhibit ) affects our net revenue by a total of $1.15 million, resulting in a net income/profit of $3,324,930.79 (Exhibit ). Additionally, it is determined that 47,957 units ($575,485) need to be sold through retail and 98,380 ($737,844) need to be sold through our website in order to break-even (Exhibit

Colgate-Palmolive Company (CP) launched a new toothbrush, Colgate Precision, to the market. But having developed for three years, CP was fiercely competing with other companies in the market. In order to have the power to fight in the highly competitive market with substantial product activity, Colgate-Palmolive Co. was in a problem of considering the how to position its new product--Precision, and to define the market strategy in terms of positioning, branding, and communication strategy. It provided some options with details to the reader, hence, for such purpose, this case would be a decision case, finding the optimum to segment the new product to the target and how it should be marketed.

The performance of each company is different from time to time based on their two different international strategies. Philips, for instance, showed poor struggles between national organizations and product divisions since there was no centralized decision –making terminal. In the end, the national organizations held the power because they were in control of the assets. Being in control of assets, the national organizations had more influence on the management team. Also the lack of clarity between the two’s responsibilities did not allow Philips to function effectively as a whole. They did have one thing going for them though. Philips was able adapt to changing markets based on their localization strategy. They

* Customers: Male consumer products have been trending upward in the last decade. The customer segments are broken up into three areas; social/emotional, involved razor users, and uninvolved or maintenance users. Social/emotional are responsible for 39% of Nondisposable razors, Involved is for 28%, and maintenance users account for 33%. In 2009 consumers razors and replacement cartridges at a higher rate than ever before.

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

Paramount Health and Beauty Company is in the process of launching a new technologically advanced nondisposable razor “Clean Edge”. With its improved design, Clean Edge provides superior performance by utilizing a vibrating technology to stimulate hair follicles and lift the hair from the skin, allowing for a more thorough shave. The company has decided to introduce it in the men’s market where it has a strong presence. The company is now focussing on positioning and naming of this new product. It also needs to decide on the promotional activities to be performed adhering to the budget constraints and also must decide on the distribution channels through which it can reach to the masses.

The arrival of Gerald Kleisterlee in 2001 brought organizational changes to Philips that is evident in the marketplace today. The new CEO restructured the company by outsourcing mobile phone production to CEC of China and the production of VCRs to Funai in Japan. This was followed by the outsourcing of TVs, CD players and components with simultaneous movement of remaining in-house production to countries like China, Poland and Mexico, who had lower costs. He also sold off several businesses, including the core semi-conductor business. What evolved was Kleisterlee’s vision for a new Philips – a lifestyle company centered on health and well-being – which organized around healthcare, lighting and consumer lifestyle.

The Indonesian economy has constantly grown within the last 20 years. However, the shaving market is still underdeveloped compared with Western markets. Hence, Gillette should provide more information to spread widely concept of shaving. Moreover, it should introduce new products to facilitate the introduction of shaving products to non-shavers and increase the frequency of shaving in current shavers.