In the battle to out-blade the competition, Gillette’s 2005 creation, a five-bladed razor called Fusion, leapfrogged the Schick Quattro by one blade and aimed to provide an even closer shave to the millions of men who were apparently having trouble with only three or four blades.
Fusion (launched in September 2005) was the first entirely new men’s razor system from Gillette since Mach 3, which was launched in 1998.
Gillette’s previous flagship razor, the Mach 3, had three blades, while the Schick Quattro had four, but Gillette president James Kilts insisted this latest ‘innovation’ had nothing to do with the competition:
‘The Schick launch has nothing to do with this, it’s like comparing a Ferrari to a Volkswagen as far as we’re concerned. . . There was never a plan to go to four.’
Fusion had one more blade than the Quattro sold by rival Schick, a unit of Energizer Holdings Inc., plus a trimming blade on the back of the pivoting cartridge for shaping facial hair, trimming sideburns and shaving under the nose.

Questions
1. Evaluate the price level of Gillette’s Fusion.
2. Discuss whether it is possible for Gillette to standardize pricing across borders for its new fiveblade Fusion. Which factors would favour price standardization and which factors would favour price differentiation?

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