36 MEN’S GROOMING
Innovation and disruption within men’s grooming
n Richard Scott – Editor, Personal Care
The rise of subscription shaving businesses has transformed this part of the male grooming market. Smart online marketing campaigns and competitive pricing have seen companies like Dollar Shave Club and Harry’s disrupt the traditional shaving purchasing model, moving it away from the High Street. Its success relies on shaving products being viewed as essentials that require replenishment on a fairly regular basis and that once satisfied with a product, consumers are content to remain loyal. This is also a sector where, for many years, prices for blades were kept high, thanks to a low number of competing manufacturers. Conditions, therefore, were ripe for a change in approach. That came in 2011 with the launch of Dollar Shave Club, which offered consumers the opportunity to cut costs as well as remove the need to remember to buy razors and other shaving products; something that was generally viewed as a chore rather than a treat. However, this innovative format in itself would only have guaranteed initial interest. Success over time required products that promoted brand loyalty through high quality, effective devices and formulations. To discover more about Dollar Shave
Club’s approach to creating new products, Personal Care spoke with the company’s vice president of product development, John Milligan.
Personal Care: Obviously the razors are important to you as a business, but how much emphasis is there on the formulated products?
John Milligan: Razors have and continue to be a key part of our business but as we have grown, the voice of our members has been loud and clear that they would love to have other grooming solutions to meet their needs. In response, we now offer a broad range of products across multiple categories to serve our members needs and this will continue to grow over the coming years.
PC: You seemed to emerge just as beards PERSONAL CARE ASIA PACIFIC
were coming back in fashion. How did you address that? JM: Beards and the resurgence of facial hair has indeed been a trend but looking after guys whatever their choices has been of equal if not greater magnitude. We try to develop products for all facial hair preferences, often beards are grown not just for fashion but also skin care concerns and we want to be able to address those too. Beards also need trimming and keeping looking great. We have a number of products that help that.
PC: Does the mail order/subscription business model affect how you develop a new product – as opposed to one that will appear on store shelves? JM: Direct to consumer businesses definitely have a different set of challenges and opportunities than traditional retail. We have to meet our members and new
members in a wider range of mediums, not just walking down the aisles of a store. Our model is definitely multi-faceted and modifies with each market we enter to make sure we have the greatest resonance possible. In terms of how we develop a product, there are number of advantages. We aren’t dictated to by traditional store re- sets but equally we have to offer interesting products each time our member visits our “store”. The power of direct to consumer is finding solutions to member needs. The reality is no matter where you sell your product, you are competing for precious time with a consumer, so in effect we are competing with traditional retail even if we don’t operate in that sector ourselves. Finding the opportunities of most impact is a challenge no matter the channel of sale, particularly so in a dynamic market. The benefit we have is our direct conversation with consumers. We understand their
November 2019
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120
