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— Bijoy Ghosh

Mr Sumeet Narang, Marketing Manager-Gillette, (right) with actor Simbu at a press conference in Chennai on Thursday.

Our Bureau

Chennai, July 5 It has nothing to do with beards of men in Tamil Nadu being tougher or growing faster but all to do with higher literacy and greater affluence which gets men to be better groomed. And, that means shaving more often than a national average of thrice a week.

Market leader in shaving products, Gillette, now in the P&G fold, has slashed the price of its twin blade brand, Vector Plus, in order to convert men using traditional blades to shave and upgrade them to twin blade shaving systems. Mr Sumeet Narang, Marketing Manager, Gillette, announcing the offer here, and endorsed by Tamil movie star Simbu, said that Tamil Nadu was one of the largest markets for Gillette.

While the Vector brand, with a facility to de-clog blades of hair, has been present in the market for a few years, affordability was a factor. Now, as Mr Narang explained, Gillette has crashed that barrier by reducing the price of the razor from Rs 49 to Rs 29 and for a set of two cartridges, from Rs 35 to Rs 20. Effectively, Mr Narang pointed out, it would mean shaving for three weeks with Vector Plus would only cost Rs 10 a blade. There is no time frame set for the promotional offer but the company would observe how the market responds to the price cut.

While averse to sharing figures on Gillette’s market share, Mr Narang said that the market for shaving products in the country was around Rs 600 crore. Of this, 80 per cent would be conventional blades and only 20 per cent would be twin blades and premium shaving systems like Gillette’s Mach 3.

More Stories on : Strategy | Personal Products | Tamil Nadu

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