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Excerpts
Innovation at Gillette
Gillette had very early on developed the belief that continuous product development was necessary to differentiate itself from the rest of the competition. Gillette's policy was to generate 40% of its sales from products that were launched in the previous five years. One reason for Gillette's strong focus on new product development was that the competition had successfully learned to imitate its products very quickly. For example, Schick (part of Warner Lambert and later taken over by Pfizer, known as Wilkinson Sword in many parts of the world) had imitated Gillette's Trac II twin blade razor within five months of the product's launch...
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The Sensor
Following the launch of the Atra in 1977, Gillette began working on an improved shaving system that would steer customers away from low priced disposables. With disposables, the razor had become a commodity, and the buying decision was based solely on price and convenience...
The Mach3
In May 1994, even before SensorExcel was first sold, Gillette started making plans for Sensor's successor. This product was to be an improved version of the Sensor. Gillette's R&D department worked for five years under great secrecy...
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Gillette for Women Venus
Following the success of Mach3, Gillette launched an advanced shaving system for women, called Gillette for Women Venus, in early 2001.
Gillette believed the product had strategic significance. The women's shaving market was growing rapidly and Gillette had not introduced a women's product since the SensorExcel version in 1996.
Venus was important to the company for two reasons: It was Gillette's first-ever global launch, hitting 29 countries simultaneously (Sensor for Women took two years to go global)...
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