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Non-Tech : Gillette (G) - Even Buffett Justify This One -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rob Preuss who wrote (605)	12/9/1999 1:13:00 PM
From: Rob Preuss	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 684

[Gillette to wear a skirt...] Thursday December 9, 12:49 pm Eastern Time The future of shaving at Gillette wears a skirt By Tony Munroe BOSTON, Dec 9 (Reuters) - For years, Gillette Co.'s (NYSE:G) womens' razors were admittedly not cutting edge -- ``men's products in drag,' allows the consumer products giant's head of female shaving. But since it introduced the Sensor for Women in 1992 -- more than two years after the mens' Sensor was rolled out -- Gillette has grown women's shaving sales at 27 percent a year, to $400 million, making womens' shaving the fastest- growing segment of its grooming business. The company launched its ``Fashion Collection' of shaving products -- Gillette's Sensor Excel for Women in trendy colors, as well as two new Satin Care shave gels -- earlier this week. But the next-generation womens' shaving system is still likely more than a year away from hitting store shelves. The company guards such details closely. However, Gillette said consumers will begin to hear about the much-anticipated product, code-named ``226' and incorporating many of the features that made the mens' triple-bladed Mach3 a hit, in the second half of 2000. ``This is sort of a young business for a company that's been in it 90 years,' said Mary Anne Pesce, vice president of female shaving. The womens' shaving segment is ripe with opportunity. Gillette owns 69 percent of the mens' U.S. shaving market, but its share of the women's market is 59 percent. ``There's no reason why we shouldn't' bring Gillette's women's shaving market position to that of its men's, Pesce said. Europe is also poised for growth, she said, as young women there are increasingly incorporating shaving into their grooming regimens. Said analyst Robert Izmirlian of S&P Equity Group: ``They have so much of the men's market dominated, in order to further grow they need a better penetration of the women's market.' There's a reason women have been left behind when it comes to shaving technology. More women than men in North America are wet shavers, so they don't use electric shavers. And though girls start shaving at a younger age than boys, women shave less often, especially in the winter months, and use one- third as many blades as men, Pesce said. Also, women often use throwaway razors, and manufacturers view them as a commodity product, Pesce said. Even now, of the 230 million women worldwide who are wet shavers, more than 60 percent use a disposable product, creating plenty of upgrade potential, Pesce said. When it hit the market, Sensor for Women quickly carved a niche as a higher-priced, higher-quality product designed specifically for women -- for shaving legs and underarms, not faces, and in the shower or bath, not in front of a mirror. Sensor for Women and Sensor Excel for Women combined were the top-selling womens' razor line in the United States for the 52 weeks ending Oct. 9, according to A.C. Nielsen, ahead of the Silk Effects and Silk Effects Plus lines made by Warner- Lambert Co.'s (NYSE:WLA - news) Schick unit. As for code 226, the next-generation product - ``it's not Mrs. Mach3,' Pesce said. Gillette is expected to spend $40 million in its first year on advertising the new razor, according to Morgan Stanley Dean Witter analyst Catherine Lewis. Lewis estimated Gillette's women's shaving business could double to $800 million by 2003, on the strength of the next- generation razor, which she expects will hit store shelves in the Spring of 2001.