It’s been a while since we have written about Dollar Shave Club (DSC) and the company has been far from quiet. The online company made its name using viral videos and a cheeky sense of humor to start a low-cost razor subscription service. The young company has impressive numbers – 1.1 million subscribers, $7.2 million/month in sales, $65 million in revenue last year, and an estimated 10% market share in the U.S. razor blade business. Not bad at all.
Although DSC started by selling only razors, it soon added wipes and shave cream to its product line. The newest addition is a line of men’s hair care products called “Boogie’s.” The product line even has a “hairantee” that offers a full replacement with a different styling product if it doesn’t meet the customer’s needs. While DSC made its name selling low-cost razors, the new product line is at or above the prices of comparable hair care products. It remains to be seen if the convenience and subscription model will work for the new product lines as well as they worked for razor blades.
Group Activities and Discussion Questions:
- Show Dollar Shave Club’s Web site: https://www.dollarshaveclub.com/
- View the latest videos:
- Discuss the four primary marketing strategies: market penetration, market development, product development, and diversification.
- Which strategy is DSC now using? Why? Is this an effective strategy for DSC?
- Divide students into teams. Have each team select one of the four different strategies and explain how that strategy could be used for DSC.
Source: Ad Age Daily, other news sources
