Gillete Case

Upon reviewing Gillette’s 1995 case study, a 25 to 35% increase in sales can be achieved by following

the recommendations below.

Marketing

 Part of the increase in the marketing budget should be targeted towards lower priced blades in

rural areas in order to penetrate that market.

 Allocate more marketing resources to foam products in order to increase the percentage of foam

users from 4% in 1995 to 10% in 1996, resulting in an estimated 1 million new users (see

Appendix A).

Product Line

 Modify existing product line to increase production of affordable products such as disposable Goal

II and the Blue Blade, targeting new users in the rural area with the simplest and least expensive

products.

 Our calculations revealed a potential market of 152 million blades/year from the untapped shaving

population currently using knives. Based on 1995 historical data, a 30% increase in sales would

represent an additional 45 million blades sold per year. This increase would be achieved by

promoting lower priced products through the following distribution mix: 35% Blue Blade; 40%

Goal Red; and 25% Goal Blue.

 Since 65% of supermarket shoppers represent the higher income segment, we recommend an

increased focus on system blades within the product mix.

Promotions