PROJECT REPORT

ON
Gillette
Submitted to:

L.J. Institute of Management Studies

5-year Integrated MBA (IMBA)

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT OF THE AWARD

INTEGRATED MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Under
Gujarat Technological University
Ahmedabad

UNDER THE GUIDANCE

OF
Faculty Guide
Prof. Richa

Submitted
By
Ajay Goyal
Enrolment No:147300585015
Semester IX
OCT 2018
CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the Seminar title gillette submitted in partial fulfilment for the
award of IMBA Programmed of Gujarat Technological University was carried out
by Ajay goyal under my guidance. This has not been submitted to any other
University or Institution for the award of any degree/diploma/certificate.

Name and Signature of guide Date of

Submission

Name and Signature of Professor in charge/Director of the Institute.

Stamp of the Institute with date.

DECLARATION

This report is based on my project topics on Gillette have been prepared by me

under the guidance of Prof. Richa I further declare that this is my original work,
as a part of our academic course.

PLACE:
SIGNATURE
DATE
PREFACE

For the completion of IMBA Sem 9 and to gain practical knowledge in the field of
marketing management, this is a report on Gillette. This Project Work Is Basically
Meant to Acquire Knowledge about the branding.

I feel prodigious pleasure in submitting this marketing project, I hope you will
accept and appreciate the efforts tapped.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Project Report is an integral part of MBA course. In connection to the Report

subject, I personally feel that it was a great experience and challenge for me. I
take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to Prof. Viral Shah,
Director, L.J. Integrated MBA for his valuable guidance, motivation, cooperation
with encouraging attitude at all stages of my work. I express my deep gratitude to
Dean of IMBA Prof. Nikita Macquin for encouraging me to prepare the Report. I
express deep and sincere gratitude to Prof. Richa whose guidance,
encouragement and affectionate presence helped me to complete the Report
work. Her inspiration, encouraging suggestions and very constructive criticism
have contributed immensely to the evolution of my ideas of the Report.
Executive Summary

Gillette has been the leading brand in men‟s grooming

industry in India and across the
globe. Gillette with its wide range of products caters to the premium segment of the
men‟s grooming market. Gillette faces intense competition in the shaving
preparations
market (shaving gel/foam/cream) whereas the competition in the razor market is
not
that intense. With the intense competition Gillette has to cater to the various needs
of
the consumers.
This project aims at identifying the problems faced by Gillette in the shaving
preparation
market. Through the project we have found an opportunity for Gillette India in the
shaving cream segment which is the biggest segment in Indian shaving preparation
market and Gillette has no presence in it. The research we conducted also supports
this
fact. We have suggested a marketing plan for Gillette Shaving Cream along with
other
suggestions for Gillette to face the competition in the near future and the long run.

introduction of project

The objective of the study is to understand the consumer attitude and buying
behavior for Gillette Shaving Gel And Foam. To understand the former part, we
created a focused group questionnaire and conducted a focused Group Discussion
(FGD) on Shaving Cream, gel and foam. We analyzed the questionnaire and the FGD
to create
an extensive questionnaire understanding the buying behavior of consumers of
Gillette
Shaving gel/foam and other brands. We had a Fishbein analysis done on the 84
respondents from Indore to identify how much of buying intension is due to
attributes
and how much due to influence by referrals. We further extended the study to
understand the perceptual mapping of brands. Our analysis has revealed that the
consumer is satisfied with the brand Gillette and its attributes. However Gillette has
not performed well with the customers who are slightly price sensitive. This
following detailed analysis is presented in our assignment
History of Gillette

Foundation of Gillette India

Gillette India was incorporated on 9th February 1984 at Rajasthan. House of

Poddar Enterprise (HOPE) and Gillette Company, U.S.A. (Gillette), promoted it.
Gillette India manufactures and markets Gillette Grooming Products and distributes
OralB and Duracell products. More than 60 % of the products sold in India are
locally manufactured by Gillette India. Parent company Gillette owns a majority
stake in Gillette India.
Company entered into a foreign collaboration agreement with HOPE for setting up
of a company for the manufacture of stainless steel razor blades in which Gillette
agreed to subscribe 24% of the equity capital. This agreement provided technical
collaboration by Gillette over the full range of technical know-how and technical
assistance for the manufacture of razor blades, razors and shaving systems. In 1985,
the company came out with an IPO for raising Rs 26 million to fund the setting up of
its plant at Bhiwadi in Rajasthan. Company placed a plant for the manufacture in the
first phase, 200 million stainless steel razor blades per annum in the starting. Blades
manufactured by the Company were of two types, the premium 7 O'Clock, Ejtek
Super Platinum and the stainless brand 7 O'Clock Ejtek Super Stainless. Company
took over Sharpedge Ltd., by acquiring the entire share capital of that company.
Company also merged Duracell (India) Pvt. Ltd. and Wilkinson Sword India Ltd. with
the company. Company introduced new twin blade shaving system called 7 O'Clock
Ejtek P II with platinum enriched edges in 1987 and changed the shaving system in
the India. Sabre Pens Ltd., Sheen Dental Products Ltd., Klosershav Products Ltd., and
Vanity Cosmetic Ltd., are wholly owned subsidiaries of the Company. During the
mid-nineties, the company's product range widened with new products being
introduced in the market namely, Gillette Presto ready shaver, 7O'Clock Ready-II
shaver, Gillette Sensor Excel shaving system, Gillette shave gel, conditioners,
deodorants, etc. It also started distributing Oral B toothbrushes, Duracell range of
batteries and Luxor and Parker pens. Gillette enhanced its range in
men‟s shaving products, it has also entered the women's shaving product segment.

Gillette’s Strategy in India

The Indian shaving products market is characterized by a 97% share of

double-edged
blades - a business dominated by the Malhotras, with brands like Topaz
and Panama.
Instead of going head-on against them in this highly price-sensitive
market, ISPL has
chosen to focus on premium products. The strategy has been to bring
more people into
the twin-edged segment, and then gradually move them towards even
more premium
products. Also, by segmenting the market with offerings at different
price points - 7
O'Clock, Sensor and Mach III, ISPL offers a continuing upgrade path for
users.
3.3. Sales
Gillette India's sales jumped 106 per cent to Rs 516.80 crores after the
addition of new
businesses from the merged companies. But operating profit margins of
the merged
entity has dropped to 12.9 per cent in 2000, from 19.3 per cent in 1999.
As a result,
Gillette India's operating profits rose by a lower 38 per cent to Rs 67.16
crore. This
suggests that the merging companies have far lower levels of
profitability than Gillette
India. Presently Gillette India Ltd today announced 36.6 per cent higher
net profit at Rs
61.22 crores for the 12 months ended December 31, 2004 on 9.73 per
cent growth in
sales at Rs 446.57 crores.
Post Gillette P&G merger, Gillette has adopted the organisation
structure of P&G 2006
onwards and effective July 1,06 relocated its headquarters from
Gurgaon to P&G Plaza
in Mumbai, which will house all P&G subsidiaries in India. P&Gs
organizational structure
is broadly divided into three heads: GBU(Global Business Unit),
MDO(Market
Development Organization)and GBS(Global Business Services).Gillette
moved from
business units based on geographic regions to GBUs based on product
lines. MDOs
develop market strategies to build business based on local knowledge
and GBS bring together business activities such as accounting, human
resource systems, order
management and information technology, thus making it cost-effective.
The present
structure of P&G

Product Details

Company Manufacture stainless steel razor blades. Gillette

India has a wider portfolio of core business of shaving products
sold under Gillette, 7‟0 Clock and Wilkinson brands, Battery
and flashlights business and oral care products (Oral B).
Company has strong presence in shaving razor blades market.
It has the premium quality 7 O'Clock Ejtek shaving brush, 7
O'Clock Ejtek P II shaving system with a metal spine and a
shave cream in three variants, Gillette Presto Readyshaver,
Readyshaver under the Brand 7 O'Clock Ready II, tooth
brushes under the well known international brand name Oral-
B, Gillette Sensor & Sensor Excel shaving systems which met
with an excellent consumer and trade response, Gillette Shave
Foam, Gillette Aerosol" shaving cream, new generation triple
blade shaving system Mach3Turbo etc. Company also entered
into ladies personal care segment with the launch of the
Gillette Sensor Excel for women.Company has strong
diversified portfolio to increase its personal products coverage.

Vision and Future Growth

The company‟s vision is to build total brand value by innovating to

deliver consumer value and customer relationship faster, better and
more effectively than its competitors.This vision statement has led to
the development and introduction of various newer products especially
in male grooming division and adoption of a more customer oriented
approach. Restructuring in 2002-03 brought about a major shift in the
future strategy of the company. The company decided to disassociate
itself from non-profitable and non-strategic businesses to focus on
profitable businesses. It started focusing on the grooming and oral care
business and exited the battery (except Duracell) and
household appliances activities.
Gillette currently, is the market leader in the male grooming division
and is expanding very aggressively into female grooming business
through introduction of products such as wet shaving products and hair
expiation devices. The company is also focusing on exploring ways to
capture the expanding oral care segment in the near future. Oral care
segment contributed approximately 13% of company‟s revenues in
2006 as against only 7% a year ago.
External Forces

The external environmental factors in terms of increasing purchasing

power of the Indian consumers and a high level of interest in personal
grooming amongst Indian men and a strong focus of the company to
create awareness for technologically advanced products have resulted
in signs of growth in the triple blade and twin blade systems. In 2004,
Gillette came up with new and improved products like Mach3 Turbo and
New Vector Plus to cater to the increasing needs of this section of the
market. Further, penetration of cable television into the smallest of
Indian towns has led to an increased awareness of latest lifestyle trends
and brands, which have become an aspiration for many consumers. This
increased awareness coupled with the increase in disposable incomes
has led to a desire to upgrade lifestyles through owning and using better
quality brands. This increased demand has led to higher sales growth
especially in personal grooming division. The Government's continued
focus on liberalization; trade friendly policies and improvement in
infrastructure have resulted in a steady inflow of global investments
into the Indian market which has again resulted in higher income levels
due to increased employment opportunities and sustained economic
boom. Thus, it can be said that due to higher income elasticity of
demand, demand for personal grooming products are expected to grow
at a rate higher than the rise in income levels of people. However, since
the market is still driven largely by price and not quality (typically in
rural markets and smaller towns), consumers might not value the
potential benefit of paying higher prices for better and safer products
Price
Gillette has 10 product variants of shaving gel/foam for the Indian
market. All the 10 products are in the premium category ranging from
Rs 53 to Rs 210 for the minimum and maximum SKUs.
Gillette has priced its shaving gel and foams well above the industry
average. For instance, Gillette foam priced at Rs. 210 costs 60% more
than OLD SPICE foam though Old Spice has the one of the best brand
perceptions (and was the best in our survey). The pricing strategy
suggests that Gillette is leveraging its customer loyalty ( i.e. the
consumers who are brand loyal to Gillette razors). The following table
shows the Gillette Series price for all the 10 product variants. We shall
see the competitor‟s prices in detail in the competitor
Place
The distribution network of Gillette is very robust. They have
P&G‟s distribution network in addition to Gillette India‟s
existing one. The distribution network is a combination of own
network and that of a franchisee. As of now, Gillette India has
the same distributors in the 20 cities that P&G operates with.
The distribution network follows a hub and spoke model. The
hubs are the 20 cities. The spokes are the various Tier 2 and
Tier 3 cities and towns around the major hub. These cities are
managed by the exclusive distributors in those cities. Every
city has only one franchisee distributor. These tier 2 and 3
cities (spokes)thus serve as a feeder market to the hubs.
Each franchisee distributor has his own set of employees
working for him. The distributor also manages his own fleet
costs to supply to the retailers. There are no wholesaler
Promotion

Gillette has made extensive promotion campaign for its razors

in the Indian market and the world market. Roger Federer,
Tiger Woods, David Beckham and Thierry Henry are a few of
Gillette‟s global ambassadors called Gillette Champions. But
for India Gillette does not have any brand ambassador as of yet
though Irfan Pathan has done a couple of ads for Sensor Excel.
But, for the shaving gel/foam there has not been much of
advertisements. In fact, there is only one ad for Gillette Series
Shaving Gel shown not too prominently. For the shaving
gel/products, Gillette has co-advertised with its razors.
Brand Loyalty

The questionnaire had specific questions to measure the brand

loyalty for the brand that the consumer was using at that point
of time. From the graphs shown, it can be concluded that the
Brand loyalty in the Shaving cream/gel/foam segment is only
57% where customers would stick to it irrespective of the
availability in the place where they are accustomed to shop.
This figure says that 57% of the customers would rather go to
some other retailer in search for their preferred shaving
cream/gel/foam brand than to buy some other brand from the
same shop. Price sensitivity measured along the lines of
a hypothetical price increase in their preferred shaving
cream/gel/foam brand was around 43%. This figure indicates
that 57% of the customers do not shift from their preferred
brand to some other brand because of a price hike in their
preferred brand, provided it‟s a reasonable price hike whereas
43% would move to some other brand
Future challenges

Introduce a product which would be designed specifically for

Indian consumer and satisfy aspiration of youths. To match
the increased demand patterns in the country. Launching of
innovative products in regular and short intervals First and
foremost, shaving cream accounts for roughly 80% of the
market and Gillette has a very weak presence in the cream
segment. It‟s only cream product “7‟o Clock Shaving cream”
has been a big flop. Gillette‟s‟ products are descending the
customer value hierarchy from that of a potential product
towards an expected product. Competitors like Denim, Axe are
moving up the hierarchy. So, Gillette will find it tough to charge
the premium it has till now charged. It is also highly likely that
Gillette may not fully absorb the consumers who upgrade from
shaving cream to gel or foam. Hence, Gillette‟s market share
might not grow as good as their competitor HLL and Old Spice.
Gillette‟s major challenge lies in entering the mass market
through a shaving cream the way it successfully did with
razors
Thank You