It's not the user's opinion about the Guard that I posted that link for.
It's that story about the Mach 3 launch.
It provided me a very different point of view about how the M3 was launched, when compared to the article that the original post linked to.
www.strategy-business.com
Now compare that with this:
"
Gillette launched the Mach 3 with a massive advertising campaign & marketing effort. In an effort to increase their revenues from India, the M3 was launched at almost 3 times the price of the Sensor, & carts were correspondingly priced. Now, India is a price sensitive market, & most middle class Indians just could not afford these new razors, so most Indians ignored the hype & hoopla & those who were using the Sensor stayed with it. Desperate marketing departments with unrealistic sales targets had to do something, to show that they had made all efforts possible. At which point, some bright spark in the marketing dept. presumably had a brainwave. If Indians were not willing to switch over to the M3, why, for their own good, they must be forced to!
Sensor cartridges, which had already increased in price to incentivize switching over to M3's were abruptly priced still higher, almost equal to M3's. At the same time, they were made virtually unavailable. Now, increasing the prices of Sensor cartridges during the M3 launch was successfully done all over the world, but in India it was taken to extremes, & taking Sensor cartridges off store shelves was going seriously overboard. Presumably, Sensor users were expected to buy M3's in droves, as Sensors became unavailable.
Although some Indians with higher disposable incomes did switch over, most were angered at Gillette's blatant price gouging. Most Indians angrily rejected all Gillette products altogether, supported by Sensor compatible cartridges from Supermax, which fit neatly on their old handles. Supermax also released their own brands of Sensor type swivel head razors with 3 & later 4 blades.
Gillette's own sales figures show flat sales during this period, with no return for the massive advertising spend incurred. Taking into account that each M3 razor/cart was 3 times the price of the Sensor, this implies that unit sales of the M3 were one third that of the Sensor prior to the M3 launch. (Other Gillette sales were probably considered negligible, as Trac II type carts were marketed by a completely different Gillette, set up in the 80's as a collaboration, & which also owns the Wilkinson brand in India.) I'm told that industry insiders privately acknowledge that Gillette's sales actually fell for the first time, although confirmation is understandably hard to come by. How big a marketing error this was can be judged by the fact that by some accounts, Supermax went on to become the world's second largest manufacturer of razors in unit terms by the late 2000's, although not in revenue terms. Most of their razors were not sold under their own brands & were sold as store brands or to other private players. Supermax has since lost this position to Dorco & others. The owner of Supermax bought Elizabeth Taylor’s multi million dollar mansion after her death, so they are still doing well."
It's worthwhile noting that a few years after the M3 launched, Gillette had lost enough money that they were ripe for a takeover , and P&G bought them in 2005.
They did not make the same mistake during the Fusion launch. Mach 3 & other razors were available at the time.
It's that story about the Mach 3 launch.
It provided me a very different point of view about how the M3 was launched, when compared to the article that the original post linked to.
MACH 3: Anatomy of Gillette's Latest Global Launch
Can a consumer product be launched globally in a short time? It can if sufficient resources and time are allocated to planning the effort.
Now compare that with this:
"
Gillette launched the Mach 3 with a massive advertising campaign & marketing effort. In an effort to increase their revenues from India, the M3 was launched at almost 3 times the price of the Sensor, & carts were correspondingly priced. Now, India is a price sensitive market, & most middle class Indians just could not afford these new razors, so most Indians ignored the hype & hoopla & those who were using the Sensor stayed with it. Desperate marketing departments with unrealistic sales targets had to do something, to show that they had made all efforts possible. At which point, some bright spark in the marketing dept. presumably had a brainwave. If Indians were not willing to switch over to the M3, why, for their own good, they must be forced to!
Sensor cartridges, which had already increased in price to incentivize switching over to M3's were abruptly priced still higher, almost equal to M3's. At the same time, they were made virtually unavailable. Now, increasing the prices of Sensor cartridges during the M3 launch was successfully done all over the world, but in India it was taken to extremes, & taking Sensor cartridges off store shelves was going seriously overboard. Presumably, Sensor users were expected to buy M3's in droves, as Sensors became unavailable.
Although some Indians with higher disposable incomes did switch over, most were angered at Gillette's blatant price gouging. Most Indians angrily rejected all Gillette products altogether, supported by Sensor compatible cartridges from Supermax, which fit neatly on their old handles. Supermax also released their own brands of Sensor type swivel head razors with 3 & later 4 blades.
Gillette's own sales figures show flat sales during this period, with no return for the massive advertising spend incurred. Taking into account that each M3 razor/cart was 3 times the price of the Sensor, this implies that unit sales of the M3 were one third that of the Sensor prior to the M3 launch. (Other Gillette sales were probably considered negligible, as Trac II type carts were marketed by a completely different Gillette, set up in the 80's as a collaboration, & which also owns the Wilkinson brand in India.) I'm told that industry insiders privately acknowledge that Gillette's sales actually fell for the first time, although confirmation is understandably hard to come by. How big a marketing error this was can be judged by the fact that by some accounts, Supermax went on to become the world's second largest manufacturer of razors in unit terms by the late 2000's, although not in revenue terms. Most of their razors were not sold under their own brands & were sold as store brands or to other private players. Supermax has since lost this position to Dorco & others. The owner of Supermax bought Elizabeth Taylor’s multi million dollar mansion after her death, so they are still doing well."
It's worthwhile noting that a few years after the M3 launched, Gillette had lost enough money that they were ripe for a takeover , and P&G bought them in 2005.
They did not make the same mistake during the Fusion launch. Mach 3 & other razors were available at the time.
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