How Attractive Is the Cassette Market for Gillette? Why?
How attractive is the cassette market for Gillette? Why? Conduct a situation and SWOTs (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis.
The cassette market appears to be attractive for Gillette. The current blank cassette market has weaknesses that include distribution, lack of media and advertising, poor product display and packaging, and lack of competitive market leadership. Gillette has proven successful in all of these areas with other product lines and perhaps could see success in this new market using similar strategies. An additional strength for Gillette could be their reputation for quality. It is apparent that there is a quality issue in the existing market and if the Gillette name is used it could be perceived as a higher quality cassette tape. In the same instance however, using the Gillette name could confuse brand image of the existing products that Gillette offers in the razor blade and toiletries industries. Perhaps launching under a new name within the Gillette organization might be a good idea to get around this.
Another factor that needs to be considered is the competition. We found out that it is very fierce and completely price oriented. We also know that even though the absence of promotion is an opportunity, it wont be for long. Memorex, a West Coast firm, is building a 50-person sales force predominately staffed by ex-P&G personnel. They have also hired the Leo Burnett Agency to develop an ad campaign. Overall I think the market is still an attractive target for Gillette based on the information we have collected. Gillette has the experience and resources to enter new markets and the opportunity could be profitable for the firm.
How would you segment the market?
According to the article, the recorders were used by students for taking notes and recording lectures; by business-people for dictating, recording conferences and self-instruction; and by households for live recordings, and for the recording and playing of music. I would segment as such