Marketing Essay Example: Gillette Marketing Approach

Approaching the marketing effectively requires a well-informed marketing strategy which spells out the vision, mission, and business goals, as well as outlines the steps to be taken to realize these goals. The steps involved in a good marketing approach require that all marketing factors are incorporated such that there is a full representation to maximize the volume and profit, and eventually boost the growth of any company, big or small. This essay aims to discuss these processes involved in marketing for Gillette Company, which, according to Brown and Anthony (2011, p.65), is one of the largest companies globally and owned by P&G. These processes include differentiation, competitive advantage, commoditization, segmentation, marketing mix, and sustainability.

Differentiation is the process of distinguishing a product or service from the rest to make it attractive to a particular segment. Gillette has succeeded in this area through the launch of its different shaving products. The company has one-off razors, shaving products that are single, double and triple-bladed such as the Mach brands, and the five-bladed Fusion line. This differentiation has seen Gillette achieve a huge market share in the shaving products industry, attracting different types of customers based on their preferences.

The parent owner of Gillette is P&G, which is a multinational company. This means that the product is set on an international platform to compete with other giant products in the market. The marketing strategy of this big company gives Gillette a competitive advantage over its rivals. Marketing processes such as advertisement, promotion, and brand campaigns are extensively funded ensuring that they reach a great number of the target consumers (Hesterly, and Barney, 2010). The competitive advantage is also in the enriched management team which ensures that improved products are introduced in the market to replace the old ones and offers a wide variety from which customers can choose. This explains why Gillette is a dominating brand in the shaving market.

Commoditization is the process in which a certain product or service becomes so common such that customers cannot differentiate between the different brands offering it, as cited by Flake, Cheng, Dani, Gounares, Hemmen, Horvitz, Jain, and Smith, (2007, p. 766). In this way, a product is regarded as a commodity. This happens where the market has a large number of producers and sellers and thus increasing the competition and forcing the prices to go lower. This is a challenge for producers and sellers since if competition increases they might end up making little or no profits. Gillette has competitors in the shaving industry. Commoditization, therefore, is a threat that can hit the company if reluctance is experienced in any part of the marketing process. To cope with this condition, the company conducts extensive advertisements and promotions to increase the awareness of their products in the minds of the consumers. Additionally, maintaining and possible upgrading of quality and variety of products can keep the threat at bay.

Segmentation involves dividing a broad range of customers of a product into sub-groups based on certain common characteristics. Mainly, customers in a certain segment are likely to respond similarly to certain marketing strategies or share other characteristics such as location, interests, or needs as argued by Bailey, Baines, Wilson, and Clark, (2009, p.231). Segmentation can be conducted based on pricing, or branding. During distribution of products, the different varieties of Gillette products are placed strategically in terms of the needs and the bargaining power of the consumers. For example, the one-off Gillette blades are likely to be used by individuals with relatively low income since they are cheaper, while Mac3 and Fusion are more likely to be used by individuals with a higher income since they are of a higher class and their prices are higher too. This too has been vital in realizing volume sales and the movement of goods in the marketing chain.

The marketing mix, also commonly known as the 4Ps, is a vital component in the process of selling commodities. These Ps are for the product, price, place, and promotion (Goi, 2009, p.2). For the selling process to be effective, there must be a product with a price that agrees with the standards of pricing, placed strategically where consumers can access it, and promotion activities that inform the potential customers on the availability of the product. In our case study, the product is Gillette razor which is available in different blades. The prices are attached depending on the capacity of the razors and the technicality employed in manufacturing them. For instance, fusion blade with five blades has a higher price as compared to the triple blade. Gillette products have been strategically placed in the different countries in which the company operates. Additionally, extensive promotion in the form of advertisements has been done to increase awareness to the potential customers. With these, Gillette only soars up in the market.

Sustainability is a key factor in the survival of any business. It involves ensuring that the business establishes good relationships with all its stakeholders including customers and the environment. This will ensure that the company runs for many years as well as that it experiences growth. P&G is a company that involves itself with environmental and social corporate responsibility to ensure that its activities are sustainable in the areas it is operating. This is one of the reasons why the company has survived decades in the business market and is still making expansions.

In summary, marketing approach requires strategies that ensure smooth running of business operations to achieve organizational goals. The processes that need to be put into consideration include differentiation, competitive advantage, commoditization, segmentation, marketing mix, and sustainability. Gillette has managed to balance these processes, which explains their success in the market.

References

Bailey, C., Baines, P.R., Wilson, H. and Clark, M., 2009. Segmentation and customer insight in contemporary services marketing practice: why grouping customers is no longer enough. Journal of Marketing Management, 25(3-4), pp.227-252.

Brown, B. and Anthony, S.D., 2011. How P&G tripled its innovation success rate. Harvard Business Review, 89(6), pp.64-72.

Flake, G.W., Cheng, L., Dani, N.V., Gounares, A.G., Hemmen, J.R., Horvitz, E.J., Jain, K. and Smith, L., Microsoft Corporation, 2007. Commoditization of products and product market. U.S. Patent Application 11/766,695.

Goi, C.L., 2009. A review of marketing mix: 4Ps or more?. International journal of marketing studies, 1(1), p.2.

Hesterly, W. and Barney, J., 2010. Strategic management and competitive advantage. Pearson, ed., Pearson Prentice-Hall.