MINI$-$CASE

Cosmetic Health: Good$-$Bite

Good$-$Bite has developed a new form of teeth$-$whitening strips. They dissolve in your mouth and leave less of a residue than current competitors. They're minty tasting so the experience is more pleasant, and test$-$customers reported greater perceived teeth$-$whitening than two competitors that were also tested.

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Part $1$ Marketing Strategy

Whitening strips seem to appeal to people $20-29$ years old. Competitors' data on existing strips suggest they appeal to women slightly more than men, but for the moment, Good$-$Bite is not planning on differentiating on gender in the advertising. So$,$ for now, let's ignore gender and just consider that $20-$ to $29-$year$-$old age category.

The U$.$S$.$ population is approximately $327$ million souls, with $45\mathrm{.}4$ million in the target age bracket. About $7\mathrm{.}5$ million people have tried competitors' whitening strips $($GoodBite$\text{'}$s aren't on the market yet$),$ and roughly $3$ million of them are semi$-$serious, frequent users.

Good$-$Bite is trying to guesstimate the size of its target market and its likely profitability. The Good$-$Bite product is sold in packages of $14$ sets of strips $($each set is an upper and lower pair$)$ in each box. For customers using the whitening strips every day, the box would be a two$-$week supply.

Good$-$Bite isn't sure of the frequency a typical purchaser will buy yet, as the product category is still relatively new. However, they reason that an upper bound would be about $26$ boxes bought by a consumer a year $(52$ weeks in the year, divided by the twoweek supply that is sold in each box$).$ A more conservative estimate would halve that $(13$ boxes; a little over one purchase each month$).$ A far more conservative estimate would be that a customer buys "a few" $($two or three$)$ boxes a year $($let$\text{'}$s say two to see how low the demand numbers go$).$

Good$-$Bite expects to charge $$50$ per box.

Case Discussion Questions

Should Good$-$Bite launch the whitening strips?

What assumptions were made that might be revisited?