Deodorant in a sentence

Deodorant Mini-Case & Homework Assignment

“Sniff, Sniff… What?! Who forget to wear deodorant again? Well, it looks like I need to help our class by using everything I’ve learned so far to do deodorant industry research so we can get them some help.”

To start, you’ll do a few simple things:

1) Start your deodorant mini-case with these two infographics[footnoteRef:0]: [0: ]

a) https://www.statista.com/statistics/739608/us-unit-sales-of-deodorant-brands/

b) https://www.strategyr.com/MarketResearch/Deodorants_Market_Trends.asp (just read the infographic itself and don’t worry much about the text below it)

2) Head down to a big box store with a deodorant aisle: Target, Wal-Mart, Costco, CVS, Rite-Aid, Walgreens, or Sam’s Club. This will be one of the few times I ask you to do real field research in this class. If you plan ahead, you can even do your family shopping as well.

3) Pick either the men’s or women’s aisle. Doesn’t matter. Take a picture of the deodorant section with your phone to keep as a record for consultation. You don’t need to hand this in.

4) Do some quick background work (look at the bottom/back of the deodorants sticks or whip out your smartphone and do some googling) to figure out which deodorant brands are owned by which parent company. Most of the parent company names should be recognizable.

That was the mini-case portion. Here is your homework:

Instructions: This homework is meant to be shorter and easier than most other homeworks. It will take up less than a full page and will only be graded using the A/B/Fail scale. Also, it will count less than a normal homework (about ½ the weight). It will be less than one-page, single-spaced, 12 pt font. Please just use numbers to address each question in turn. The frameworks to apply are the market structure material from readings, video, and class (5 forces, oligopoly, market structure, network effects) if/where possible.

1) Briefly describe the key takeaways of your field observations. Describe simple, summary observations for things like number of manufacturers, number of brands, price ranges, and the presence (or absence) of sales/promotions, etc. This is limited to ¼ of a page and can be shorter. Just hit the highlights, please.

2) Based on the field data you collected, and t would you categorize this industry as a monopoly, oligopoly, perfect competition, or monopolistic competition? Defend your answer in one or two sentences. Please watch the industry structure wrap-up video from Week 4.

3) Based on the industry structure you identified above, how do you think the deodorant producers compete with one another? One sentence, please.

4) How profitable do you think deodorants are compared to other common CPG segments such as toothpaste and cereal? Defend your answer in only one sentence.

5) You are a manufacturer and you are considering entering the deodorant market. Which of Porter’s five forces worries you the most? Defend your answer in one or two sentences.