By now, many male (and female) consumers are familiar with the popular viral video for Dollar Shave Club. The humorous video has more than 10 million hits and has helped the company build a subscriber base of roughly 200,000 men who receive a new shipment of razors each month from Dollar Shave Club.
But how does an online company known for a single product line add to its success? It starts by examining the needs and wants of the target market. And, in the case of Dollar Shave Club, it sticks with a category and market it knows – personal hygiene and men.
The company surveyed 1,000 men and found that 51% of respondents admit to using wet wipes regularly, and 16% use the wipes instead of using toilet paper. Men seldom talk about using the product and 24% actually hide them in the bathroom. The survey also found that 23% of the men discreetly buy the products – and buy online. With the new product line – wet toilet wipes – Dollar Shave Club’s stated goal is to “own the bathroom and be the easiest place for men to buy the things they use every day.”
It’s a sizeable market to enter – toilet paper sales are $8.4 billion annually, which is a much larger category than the $3.6 billion annual market for razors and blades. However, for all it’s size, within the toilet paper industry, wet wipes are a niche product adopted mainly by women and children.
Enter Dollar Shave Club’s product, One Wipe Charlies. For a $4 monthly subscription addition, a package of 40 wipes can now be delivered – discretely – each month.
Group Activities and Discussion Questions:
- Bring up Dollar Shave Club’s Web site: www.dollarshaveclub.com
- Show the original video.
- Next, show the new video for One Wipe Charlies: https://www.dollarshaveclub.com/one-wipe-charlies
- Discuss the video: key message, target market, effectiveness, etc.
- Discuss the marketing strategy that the company uses.
- Using the product/market grid, discuss which strategy the company is using with the wet wipes.
- Divide students into teams. Have each team brainstorm on additional products that could be sold to the company’s customers.
Source: Brandchannel.com, 6/7/13
