It's called drop-ticket marketing.
Make something that costs you $0.50, make the MSRP $5.00 and sell it based on that, sell it for $2.50 and make a killing.
Energizer CEO: P&G is hurting the razor business
- Thread starter Craig_From_Cincy
- Start date
It's called drop-ticket marketing.
Make something that costs you $0.50, make the MSRP $5.00 and sell it based on that, sell it for $2.50 and make a killing.
I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the Gilette Comb (sold at IB and WCS). I pitched a schick something or other for it and haven't looked back since.
I started shaving around 2003-2004 when the Mach 3 Turbo was the current top offering from Gillette. I remember buying the 8 pack of cartridges for $14-15. It's absolutely ridiculous to look at how quantity has shrunken while the price has increased. The last package of Fusion Proglide carts that I bought last year was a 4 pack for $20. It doesn't surprise me at all that there are more people who refuse to pay full price for them. Even Gillette's shaving gel is ridiculous. $4-5 for a can that lasts maybe 2 weeks. I have no sympathy for them when they say that sales are declining. They are practically printing money with the junk that they sell.
I never really cared for Schick razors, but I was actually considering going back to the Quattro before I discovered DE shaving. Even Gillette's older cartridges are grossly inflated now. I will never give another dollar to them. It's just a shame that they choose to blame their competition instead of realizing that people are fed up with paying their prices.
I never really cared for Schick razors, but I was actually considering going back to the Quattro before I discovered DE shaving. Even Gillette's older cartridges are grossly inflated now. I will never give another dollar to them. It's just a shame that they choose to blame their competition instead of realizing that people are fed up with paying their prices.
P&G is like an ex-wife or ex-girlfriend around here. Everyone hates them, they are stupid, dumb, evil, etc....but dammit if everyone isn't still obsessed with talking about them and thinking about them.
Well it is a shaving forum. Whether or not we talk about them, they are still the 800 pound gorilla in the room.
True. And it is amazing how they get away with their way of doing business.
Plus the fear that they will ultimately drive DE blades off the worldwide market ... enough gossip material, I'd say
And with P&G's purchase of AoS, there's no avoiding them even if the admin staff here were to completely forbid all discussion of carts and canned goo/creams.
Sure, I mean people could discuss Folgers on specialty coffee forums over and over and over again - saying the exact same thing each time....because it is a coffee forum, but I don't really see the point.
+1 I'm with you on this. The only Schick product that didn't completely disappoint me was the Hydro moisturizing gel (when I used the canned stuff). Even though it was pretty decent for that sort of thing, I had two cans explode in my shower.
Color me unimpressed that a major competitor of Gillette is bashing them.
What the hell is wrong with these people?
Do they expect the shaving market to grow exponentially? Forever?
Can't they see the flaw in such a business plan?
As a devoted Schick Hydro 5 user, I am genuinely interested in the health of Energizer Holdings. No one makes a pivoting multi-blade cartridge with a detachable slime strip, not even Gillette, and so the Hydro 5 is the only razor that fits the bill. If Schick went under and the Hydro was no more, what am I supposed to do then? Even if I stockpiled a bunch of cartridges, they'll still run out eventually and that's unacceptable. If push came to shove and I couldn't find a suitable replacement, I suppose I'd just start using disposables.
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0.2% over 12 weeks is not statistically significant unless it is indicative of a continuing trend, or supported by the following 12 weeks reflecting a new trend, but the article refers to a 52-week growth of 1.7%.
How are they measuring "market"? Sales? Sales will fluctuate. New group of troops heading overseas, they are going to stock up on items they can not get over there. Momentary spike in sales, coupled with a slight drop below average for the following months.
I personally think its fantastic to see Gillette, ownership aside, still kicking everyone else's more than a hundred years on. More power to them and the name.
And while we're complaining about today's plastic razor prices keep in mind that a nice Gillette razor listed for ~$60 and blades a buck apiece in 1920, adjusted for inflation. I know the inherent problems in using inflation to compare product prices 90 years apart; just sayin...
And while we're complaining about today's plastic razor prices keep in mind that a nice Gillette razor listed for ~$60 and blades a buck apiece in 1920, adjusted for inflation. I know the inherent problems in using inflation to compare product prices 90 years apart; just sayin...
It's called anchoring. Negotiations are controlled or set by the initial price that's discussed. If the MSRP is artifically inflated, anything less than that makes people think they're getting a good deal and they'll be more likely to pay it. Why do you think Macy's has so many coupons and sales, offering huge markdowns off the tag price, while Penney's strategy of just selling things for less failed miserably?
I guess I'm somewhat cynical, but P&G, of which Gillette is but a small subsidiary, is an unbelievably huge multi-national corporation whose mission is to make money and satisfy (reward) stockholders. Kicking everyone else's behind now has zero to do with the Gillette that made the vintage razors we use--other than the name.
They will charge as much as they can and use advertising/PR to stimulate sales as much as possible. I don't have a problem with that, but I try to recognize the realities and avoid being manipulated into overpaying for things that don't have value to me.
Those overpriced cartridges don't have value to me.
Actually, I LOVE huge multinationals who reward stockholders!
Unfortunately I'm not the greatest stock picker: Bought P&G in early '09 for ~$56, watched it drop to $45 in months, and then patted myself on the back for hanging in there and selling later in the year for ~$62. Now its in around $80. 'cest la vie.
I guess we wet shavers will just have to bear the cross of being part of the 20% of men who do not buy Gillette plastic to shave.
Fusion's latest ad campaign is that it is a whole body shaver. Have seen the commercial on the major networks, but it is on basic cable. They're pushing the envelope in trying to hit the completely hairless market. Not really an advert I want my kiddos to see.
Kelly
Kelly
OK, I'll come clean. I've tried body shaving once (you've got to try things to judge them.) Body hair is puny compared to beard hair. It isn't going to increase sales by much.
Besides, don't people use fresh blades for their face then use them elsewhere once they are going blunt? Net result: no increase in sales at all.
What next? Shave your pets?
P.S. I looked like a plucked chicken. No wonder body builders apply those ridiculous fake tans.
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Craig, thanks. This is interesting news. I kind of hope they don't take a look at the DE market and try and get back in. I think things are just fine without P&G.
My buddy is a senior VP with Smith Barney, and he says that I'm his best source of stock tips.
If I buy something, he shorts it
I agree about the sales angle, but was remarking on the newer demographic.
When I was racing (cycling) I shaved my legs. The beginning of each season would take hours to shave. Buzz with an electric to get to stubble, then use a disposable to get bare. Even then, I would quickly clog the blade.
When I was racing (cycling) I shaved my legs. The beginning of each season would take hours to shave. Buzz with an electric to get to stubble, then use a disposable to get bare. Even then, I would quickly clog the blade.
