The recent technological development is deeply reshaping the way in which companies can reach their final consumers and build a strong long-lasting relationships. Especially in the retail industry, incumbent companies like P&G are willing to maintain their leading position adopting new solutions which could solve their current issues. In particular, Gillette, one of the most relevant brands of P&G, although global leader in the razor and blades market, is now facing a moment of difficulty. The Italian market shows a slight, but constant, decline over the last years. The reduction in number of users, the emergence of new consumer’s behaviours and new online-based business models are some of the relevant factors that contribute to this situation.
Therefore, the project aims at defining new alternatives for positioning of Gillette with respect to the emerging online-based subscription business models and finding some possible new solutions to enhance the in-store purchasing experience with a focus to the Millennial generation. Considering Gillette’s core competencies and resources, together with company’s brand managers and academic supervisors, several options have been analyzed: first, the team has investigated the online subscription feasibility and its possible adoption in the Italian market, then it also has examined the possible in-store solutions to simplify the current purchasing process. Finally, the team has explored the possibility to realize some positioning stores to support the online channel model and the opportunity to build partnerships with other leading brands in the grooming market. All these aforementioned alternatives have been also analyzed by a strategic point of view, taking into account the actors involved in the retail industry value chain.
In conclusion, the project demonstrates the growing importance of the multichannel customer experience, which surely represents one of the greatest companies’ challenges for the future, ensuring an efficient integration and optimization of channels themselves and a similarly high customer service level across channels.
Principal Academic Tutor
Giulio Zotteri, Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning, Politecnico di Torino
Academic Tutor
Francesca Montagna, Department of Management and Production Engineering, Politecnico di Torino
External Tutors
Iolanda Napolitano, Procter & Gamble, IT Project Manager
Vittorio Sapio, Gillette, Wouthern Europe Senior Brand Manager
Team members
Luca Airola, Industrial production and technological innovation Engineering, Politecnico di Torino
Eugenio Boltri, Engineering and Management, Politecnico di Torino
Antonio Canu, Product Service System Design, Politecnico di Milano
Alessandro Giordano, Engineering and Management, Politecnico di Torino
Davide Maio [Team Controller], Industrial production and technological innovation Engineering, Politecnico di Torino
Francesco Rebaudi, Mechanical Engineering, Politecnico di Torino
Silvia Zanardi, Management Engineering, Politecnico di Milano
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