Baili/Weidi Razor Corporate Site Provides Insight on Wholesale Prices of Chinese Razors

[Lane101]

Hi everyone, I was on the web and stumbled on the Baili/Weidi corporate web site ( bailishaver.com ) that lists what appears to be all of their products with wholesale pricing for single item "sample" purchases (click on the products menu item). Note that while this site appears to be set up for retail sale it won't let you actually order with a warning that no payment mechanisms are set up for your state (tried a couple states with no other information on a cart with a few items.

If these prices are accurate representations of current wholesale prices then there is a lot of markup in the retail prices we pay for these products, even when on sale. Some wholesale price examples from this website:

• 191 Vintage DE Razor (Tech Clone) for $1.78 wholesale vs. typical $10 regular/$4.99 sale price
• Adjustable Butterfly Razor (Razorock Adjust) for $3.46 wholesale vs $15 regular/$7.99-$9.99 sale price
• 179 Butterfly Safety Razor for $1.74 wholesale vs typical $10-15 regular/$4.99 sale price
• Reusable DE Mild Aggressive Adjustable Razor (Futur Clone) for $3.80 wholesale vs typical $15 regular price

A photo of my sample shopping cart with these and other DE razors is attached. Per the web site they promise to custom quote for the bulk orders that a retailer would typically place. Unclear what the shipping charges would be.

This website also offers lots of interesting corporate information. Their official company name is Guangzhou Weidi Technology Co.,Ltd. Like most other manufacturers they make a number of cartridge based shaving systems and disposable razors. They were founded in 2002 and started with what looks like a 2 blade disposable moving to a 2 blade cartridge razor in 2004. Their first DE razor was introduced in 2007 and they've expanded to the full range we've seen of DE razors and up to 5 blade cartridge systems. The Adjustable Butterfly DE with the classic Gillette adjustment mechanism was introduced in 2021.

They appear to pursue a lot of OEM manufacturing opportunities that we see in their many rebranded DE products sold by various retailers. Weidi/Baili has their own design team and per the website it looks like they have a single factory with around 150 employees. They claim to handle the entire manufacturing process for their razors from raw materials to finished goods. No information was found regarding annual sales though some other sites, with undated information, show annual revenue in the $4-5 million U.S. dollar range that seems low given the number of employees but may be accurate given the wholesale prices.

Interesting information that, if correct, shows how heavily marked up some of the rebranded razors out there are. A thank you to those retailers like Italian Barber and Stirling that offer these products at reasonable sale prices in relation to the low published costs.

 

[Flanders]

As far as I know, the manufacturing cost per item on many products is 20%; I hadn't thought that was the wholesale though, just the labor and materials. I was expecting about 40% of retail approximately, give or take 5%. Interesting find.

On second thought, the actual profit in dollars is so low for a retailer that they may need to be this cheap for them to buy wholesale and still make enough money. Even an $80 razor might make the retailer $30, they might sell 100. To make $3,000 on cheap razors would take approximately 5 times as many even with a higher percentage as profit! If they only $3 each, it would take 10 times as many.

 

[Lane101]

As far as I know, the manufacturing cost per item on many products is 20%; I hadn't thought that was the wholesale though, just the labor and materials. I was expecting about 40% of retail approximately, give or take 5%. Interesting find.

On second thought, the actual profit in dollars is so low for a retailer that they may need to be this cheap for them to buy wholesale and still make enough money. Even an $80 razor might make the retailer $30, they might sell 100. To make $3,000 on cheap razors would take approximately 5 times as many even with a higher percentage as profit! If they only $3 each, it would take 10 times as many.

Suspect the DE razors are a slower moving item somewhat like spare parts (but with an occasional demand spike such as holiday periods when often given as gifts). Typical margins (as a percent of the retail selling price) for this type of item can be in the 50-60% range vs 20-40% on fast moving consumer goods. Extra margin covers inventory carrying costs.

Reality is that if these wholesale prices are correct we are seeing retail markups at regular price of 80%+ approaching 90% (recall Maggards offering the Baili 179 Butterfly for $15. I've only seen similar opportunistic markups in products like costume jewelry. You are right that even at those markups there may not be enough margin to run a profitable business.

The successful retailers are likely those that use the low cost shaving hardware as entry to a more profitable basked of goods. For example Razorock will do well with it's soaps and blades added to the mix. Stirling is likely happy to sell an Adjust razor for $9.99 if it goes out with a $14 soap or two. Italian Barber likely sees most $4.99 Tech clones go out with a decent size basket of items. Additionally in this business that low cost razor can generate a stream of recurring revenue via future blade and soap purchases.

With these economics domestic U.S. and European DE razor manufacturers without access to add-on consumable purchases likely have little choice but to move upmarket towards $100+ more premium products to be profitable. The Chinese manufacturers can sell for these low wholesale prices due to lower costs and the fact that they have large production runs targeted to the Asian, Middle Eastern and possibly African mass markets.

P.S. Suspect the economics on imported Chinese synthetic brushes are similar to what we see in razors.

 

[Lightcs1776]

I don’t have any issues with most products from China, unless the product is a result of stolen intellectual property. Yes, there are documented cases of this. However, my understanding is that most razors from China are cheaper because of reduced labor costs. That is a concern for me. That doesn’t mean pay needs to be the same as in the US, but it should be compatible when the cost of living is taken into account.

 

[Lane101]

I don’t have any issues with most products from China, unless the product is a result of stolen intellectual property. Yes, there are documented cases of this. However, my understanding is that most razors from China are cheaper because of reduced labor costs. That is a concern for me. That doesn’t mean pay needs to be the same as in the US, but it should be compatible when the cost of living is taken into account.

In the case of DEs any relevant Gillette patent I've seen expired years ago so no issues there.

 

[Babou]

 

[Iridian]

It is funny to find these razors for quite somewhat higher prices on Amazon and elsewhere, and under how many different names.
Would love to see the costs for some ultra premium razors.

 

[BigJ]

Really interesting!! Thanks for posting.

 

[cranewarrior]

The low cost of manufacturing isn't surprising, considering you can buy Baili razors from a Chinese middle man through sites like Temu or Aliexpress for around $7-$10 which is generally a 70%-100% discount from Amazon.

 

[Flanders]

The low cost of manufacturing isn't surprising, considering you can buy Baili razors from a Chinese middle man through sites like Temu or Aliexpress for around $7-$10 which is generally a 70%-100% discount from Amazon.

This is an interesting point, I was thinking of the business model of Temu which is the business model of the dollar store. I had forgotten about a few purchases that I have made that had a ship from CN/domestic warehouse options. What's interesting is the amount they make on Amazon, for domestic warehousing, is the same or slightly less than sending it from CN. I can't remember what Amazon's cut is on marketplace, 20-3% maybe? On that $20 item, you figure Amazon is taking $5 for warehousing and using their platform so what are they making in the deal? Maybe $3 so with all the hands in the pot I can see how a $10 Temu item can be $15-20 on Amazon. It's no longer cheap to buy on Amazon overall, sometimes you find a deal.

 

[cranewarrior]

This is an interesting point, I was thinking of the business model of Temu which is the business model of the dollar store. I had forgotten about a few purchases that I have made that had a ship from CN/domestic warehouse options. What's interesting is the amount they make on Amazon, for domestic warehousing, is the same or slightly less than sending it from CN. I can't remember what Amazon's cut is on marketplace, 20-3% maybe? On that $20 item, you figure Amazon is taking $5 for warehousing and using their platform so what are they making in the deal? Maybe $3 so with all the hands in the pot I can see how a $10 Temu item can be $15-20 on Amazon. It's no longer cheap to buy on Amazon overall, sometimes you find a deal.

For me, Temu is a site where you buy odds and ends that you don't care about the long-term quality of and you don't care how long it takes to arrive. For example, I bought some Christmas themed sweat shirts a month in advance so we could take a family picture wearing them during the holidays.

I have bought some razor blades off Temu that were good values for me (like $4-$7 per 100), but they really weren't cheaper or better than just buying a value brand like Treet or Lord that had already been imported en mass and sold on Amazon. Maybe the Baili razors are a good value if you are willing to wait 2 weeks to get it shipped from China to save half-off from the Amazon price. And another good buy is the blue Chinese Gillette razor blades that are about $10 per hundred.

Yeah, neither Amazon nor Wal-mart are particularly cheap now. If one is price-sensitive and can wait to buy something, it pays to track prices and get alerts through camelcamelcamel.