sounds to me like the owner is all about the benjamins. Great business move, ****ty for all the customers that paved the way for him.
Proctor and Gamble has purchased Art of Shaving
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sounds to me like the owner is all about the benjamins. Great business move, ****ty for all the customers that paved the way for him.
I guess no more de's and straights in the AOS stores...
I think it's P&G making some extra bank off of a more upscale niche market. I wouldn't bet money on seeing AOS products in Wal-Mart anytime soon.
Being the eternal optimist, I assume that this means that the product will remain identical, but economies of scale will allow the price to be cut in half.
+1 I had bad customer service the first time I went into the local store, it turned me off, never been back, that was like 4 months ago.
I can't say I'm all that surprised. There were signs of AoS's slide even before the Fusion atrocities. Back when I first started taking an interest in them, nearly any store that sold a good selection of AoS products carried both shaving creams and soaps, and aftershave balms and gels, in all four scent options. After a while, it got so you could only find creams and balms; soaps and gels had to be special ordered, or purchased via the company website. Some of the more interesting products, like their rose water hydrosol, became all but impossible to find, as well. Even before the Fusions, AoS had custom made Mach3 heads - not just handles - on offer. Many of us always knew that AoS wasn't about a renaissance of old-school shaving ideals so much as the upscale marketing of old-school cachet to those with a lot of money and little knowledge, even if some of their products were very good. The changes in the later Malka "era" only strengthened that view; this buyout proves it. Eric Malka was always a marketer. It isn't surprising he sold out. But then, who among us wouldn't, if we were offered millions and could then retire to an Island somewhere in the Pacific?
I would like to think P&G bought AoS because they think it's a good company and know not to fix what isn't broken. I won't be betting on that, though. Any time a good company is taken over by a corporate giant, we start seeing the manifestations of corporate groupthink in the brand's offerings. Once Crest took over Glide floss (originally produced by Gore Industries, the makers of Gore-Tex), we got all kinds of different flosses, each one touted as doing a better job than the one before it. When Philips took over Sonicare, they started introducing new models every other year; the latest deal is brush heads with "indicator" bristles that fade to white when it's time to replace the head. (Gee, I wonder where they got that idea - cough, Gillette indicator strip, cough.) No, corporations have one way of thinking - customers are brainless lemmings that need to be told what to do, think and like, and will do just that if persuaded properly. The sad thing is, in many cases, they're right. Those of us who populate forums like this one are the exception, not the rule.
I would like to think P&G bought AoS because they think it's a good company and know not to fix what isn't broken. I won't be betting on that, though. Any time a good company is taken over by a corporate giant, we start seeing the manifestations of corporate groupthink in the brand's offerings. Once Crest took over Glide floss (originally produced by Gore Industries, the makers of Gore-Tex), we got all kinds of different flosses, each one touted as doing a better job than the one before it. When Philips took over Sonicare, they started introducing new models every other year; the latest deal is brush heads with "indicator" bristles that fade to white when it's time to replace the head. (Gee, I wonder where they got that idea - cough, Gillette indicator strip, cough.) No, corporations have one way of thinking - customers are brainless lemmings that need to be told what to do, think and like, and will do just that if persuaded properly. The sad thing is, in many cases, they're right. Those of us who populate forums like this one are the exception, not the rule.
Not sure anyone's questioning the fact that AOS made a sound financial decision. Since this is a shaving forum there are naturally folks here that enjoy AOS products and are concerned about the quality of said products moving forward. "Bitching" is a harsh way to describe the conversation in this thread.
i think bitching is the correct way to describe. you're the customer not on the BoD. i'm completely unconcerned and i like the art of shaving stuff. there's tons of other things out there though.
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Er, fixed that for you. Also, there's no Santa Claus.
Same idea as their super expensive shampoo like - whose name escapes me (it's 10 years since I last bought shampoo when my hair left the building) - it's £38 a bottle. Fekkai or something
True...
Again, true...
How this relates to the concerns of happy AoS customers concerned about the future of the brand isn't clear.
There's a very good chance AoS products will become crap. This is what generally happens when multinationals take over small companies. These are the people that gave us the Gillette Phantom Menace Fusion Vibro Dyna Shave.
AoS fans are entitled to '*****', though they're certainly not in this thread.
Tho I think Chip met the Tooth Fairy once at a rave he went to.
(can't find the link, sorry)
Being a bit pessimistic aren't we? To assume anything at this point is pointless if you want my opinion, especially to assume that P&G are going to essentially destroy the AoS line. Not every acquisition they make is going to ruin shaving as we know it. Remember Gillette made the choice to part with the double edge safety razor and go with the multiblade cartridge long before P&G came into the picture. Let's give this a few months before we start drawing any conclusion.
thank you.
they haven't even done anything yet. give it 6 months, a year and then see where they are.
Or just get rid of shaving soap altogether. Get ready for AoS foamy and gel at the drugstore!
I'm sure that the marketing experts can prevent this from becoming a gateway drug.
Also, don't forget that gillette is in the buisness of selling blades. Somebody who has invested money into a metal handle has no choice but keep on purchasing cartridges, or see their "investment" sit idle in the medicine cabinet. Not a bad deal for gillette.
Again why speculate? We'll see the fallout from this in the coming months not weeks. Besides, this acquisition could have the opposite effect. We could see the return of shaving soaps to the supermarkets and drugstores. Then again maybe not.
All I have to say is this is quite a pessimistic bunch for a group of shavers that's constantly looking for brick and mortar stores selling quality shaving goods in their area. If this might expand the availability of AoS products, why isn't this a good thing?
For heavens sake people! Anyone would think that this was the end of the world as we know it. Do you folks walk around with sandwich boards and placards of a Saturday? Look, this is going to happen more and more and Im afraid its partly (Well actually quite significantly) our fault. You see up until recently wet-shaving and all that went with it was a dying market. Then along came the Wet Shave revolution with all us Nay Sayers who wanted to dump the expensive cartridges and disappointing goo and go with this wonderfully satisfying world of badger hair brushes, chromed razors, fancy soaps etc. We became quite vocal and set up a web forum and now that forum represents 15,000+ members. You can pretty well be sure that that number is but a few percentage points of the real market size. More importantly from P&Gs point of view is the number of on-line retailers that have appeared around the world servicing this growing market. Why then is it so surprising to you all that P&G want a piece of the action? As many have mentioned ad nauseum, P&G is getting diminishing returns from each successive cartridge launch so they will be looking at how they can diversify their business lines to cover new markets. This appears to be one step in that type of strategy.
One could look at it in several ways but I suspect what will happen is that we will now see wet shave products appearing as mainstream products along side the canned goos and cartridges. They will be marketed at the higher end of the food chain and will give P&G alternative marketing options other than more blades, faster shaves etc.. We will probably see a sister brand appear think Lexus to Toyota. The niche producers will continue to exist as will most of the on-line retailers, just as they do today. We will still be able to buy soaps and creams with exotic content and perfumes so long as we exist. What P&Gs move into this part of the market will do is simply widen it to the consumers who havent thought of buying anything else the ones we like to convert. In fact it is highly likely that this could be a very good thing for us all. If the marketing goes as I suspect it will then many more people will be awakened to the alternative shaving products and maybe even methods. That makes our world more sustainable and increases the likelihood of other brands emerging. I doubt that Gillette DEs will re-emerge although if I worked for P&G I would definitely be looking at that move as part of this strategy.
That raises an interesting question. How many of you would buy a brand new re-launched SuperSpeed if Gillette brought it back and sold them in Walmart?
One could look at it in several ways but I suspect what will happen is that we will now see wet shave products appearing as mainstream products along side the canned goos and cartridges. They will be marketed at the higher end of the food chain and will give P&G alternative marketing options other than more blades, faster shaves etc.. We will probably see a sister brand appear think Lexus to Toyota. The niche producers will continue to exist as will most of the on-line retailers, just as they do today. We will still be able to buy soaps and creams with exotic content and perfumes so long as we exist. What P&Gs move into this part of the market will do is simply widen it to the consumers who havent thought of buying anything else the ones we like to convert. In fact it is highly likely that this could be a very good thing for us all. If the marketing goes as I suspect it will then many more people will be awakened to the alternative shaving products and maybe even methods. That makes our world more sustainable and increases the likelihood of other brands emerging. I doubt that Gillette DEs will re-emerge although if I worked for P&G I would definitely be looking at that move as part of this strategy.
That raises an interesting question. How many of you would buy a brand new re-launched SuperSpeed if Gillette brought it back and sold them in Walmart?
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