poration. On Friday, 5, 2003, Phoebe Masters, the newly appointed Product Manager for January hand and body lotions Skin-Tique one day after her promotion. was faced with her first decision She had to decide o introduce a new design for the company's Soft and Silky Shaving Gel. The whether a 5Vrounce or a 10ounce aerosol container should be introduced and whether she should approve additional funds for a market test. Timing was critical because the incidence of women shaving would increase during the and reach its during the summer months. E COMPANY AND THE PRODUCT Soft and Silky Shaving Gel is marketed by SkinTique Corporation, a manufacturer of women's personal care products with sales of S225 million in 2002. The company's line of products includes facial creams, hand and body lotions, and a full line of women's toiletries. Products are sold by drug and food-and-drug sores through rack jobbers. Rack jobbers are actually wholesalers that set up and merchandise retail dis plays. They receive a margin of 20 percent off the sales price to retailers Soft and Silky Shaving was introduced in the spring of 1988. The product viewed as a logical extension of the company's line of hand and body lotions and required few changes in packaging and manufacturing. The unique dimension of the introduction was that soft and silky Shaving Gel was positioned as a high quality women's shaving gel. The positioning strategy was successful in differentiating soft and Silky Shaving Gel from existing men's and women's shaving creams and gels at the time, M oreover, rack jobbers were able to obtain product placement in the women's personalcare section of drug and food and drug stores, thus emphasizing the product's positioning statement. Furthermore, placement apart from men's shaving products minimized direct price comparisons with men's shaving creams, since Soft and Silky ggested retail price of $3.95 per ounce Shaving Gel was premium-priced-with a su tube. Retailers received a 40 percent margin on the suggested retail scling price. Soft and Shaving Gel has been sold in a tube since produce aging was adopted because the company did not have the technology to w and aerosol containers in 1988. Furthermore, the company's manufacturing policy of early As continues to to utilize existing production capacity whenever possible. 2003, all be company packaged in the time of its introduction. products sold by the were from Soft and Silky Shaving Gel had been profitable gels was small, compared to men Although the market for shaving cream and had created a customer fran women's shaving cream and gels, Soft and silky's unique We havea chise, in the words of Heather Courtwright, the Soft and Silky brand assistant Edilir D unique product for the feminine woman who considers herself special having Gel sales were $3,724,000 in 2002 with a 1,960,000 unit volume (see basis for class discussion names have been of an administrative certain data and Roger A. Kerin. No part of this case may be reproduced wi