The shaving industry is cut-throat (no pun intended) with fierce rivalries between Schick, Gillette, Unilever, and P&G. A few years ago, Unilever bought Dollar Shave Club for more than $1 billion. The deal gave Unilever access to a new market of online consumers for men’s grooming products. Last year, Procter & Gamble bought Walker & Co. which markets Bevel, a shaving brand focused on black consumers.
Not to be left behind, Schick has now announced a similar type of deal, buying shaving company Harry’s for $1.37 billion. Harry’s has roughly 2.6% of the men’s shaving industry, with Schick at 10% and Dollar Shave Club at 8.5%.
Harry’s differs from Dollar Shave Club as it has retailers such as Target and Walmart stocking its products on their shelves in addition to online sales. Harry’s also launched Flamingo as a new women’s grooming brand.
Dollar Shave Club and Harry’s built a direct-to-consumer business model which has been enthusiastically embraced by shoppers. Prices are lower, and connections are more easily built between the brands and the shoppers.
Where do you buy shaving products?
Group Activities and Discussion Questions:
- Poll students: Where do they buy razors and grooming products? Approximately how much do they spend each month on these?
- Discuss competition: what are the direct competitors for this product? Indirect competitors?
- View Schick’s Web site: https://www.schick.com/
- View Harry’s Web site: https://www.harrys.com/en/us
- View Flamingo’s Web site: https://www.shopflamingo.com
- View Bevel’s Web site: https://getbevel.com/
- Divide students into teams. Have each team analyze the one of the shaving Web sites.
- What are the points of difference? Key messages? Target market?
Source: Associated Press. Schick owner buys Harry’s in new shaving war alliance. (9 May 2019).
