With all the DE shaving related websites such as B&B, all the online stores selling razors, blades, and real shaving creams and soaps, why don't the brick-and-mortar stores carry any of the things we need? Aside from Wally World selling VDH soap and Personna blades, and the drug store chains carrying store brand blades for $7 a 10-pack, there's nothing out there. Clearly, based on the number of recent articles in mags about DE shaving, the traffic on this and other sites, and the number of online stores, there is plenty of sales to be made. Is it that Schick and Gillette have their hooks in the retail stores to the point that they don't dare carry a selection of DE supplies? Is it that the cartridge and goo-in-a-can stuff is simply too profitable for the stores to give up shelf space? Do the stores consider DE shaving a fringe thing?
Why are we being ignored?
- Thread starter gearhead
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I suspect most stores do consider DE shaving just a fringe market. B&B has around 25,000 members, which sounds like a lot. But when you consider that the population of the US is around 300 million, it's not all that much by comparison. It works out to one DE shaver in every 12,000 people, or .000083 percent of the population. I doubt most retailers would bother to cater to such a select consumer base.
I would say it is considered a fringe thing. We are here everyday looking at this site and we know all about DEs and traditional wetshaving. Most people don't have a clue.
Before I read an article on artofmanliness.com about it, I didn't know that it was even an option. I had no idea the number of people that still used DEs, brushes, and shave soaps and creams. If you had of asked me I would have told you that only old men used these things b/c they were old and hard headed. Hell most of the older guys I know use carts.
I'm a computer geek and am kind of OCD about google researching stuff before I buy it. Trucks, guns, knives, computer parts(I built my comp), grills, you name it I googled it. It never entered my mind to google shaving stuff. I just went to walmart, bought the big bag of 3 blade disposables and a can of edge and went about my business. It was just one of those boring things in life that you did, like showering, brushing your teeth, washing clothes, etc, etc.
Now, I have a couple of straights, SRD english bridle strop, chinese 12k hone, 4 DE's, 10 soaps, a couple of brushes, all in 2 months.
Before I read an article on artofmanliness.com about it, I didn't know that it was even an option. I had no idea the number of people that still used DEs, brushes, and shave soaps and creams. If you had of asked me I would have told you that only old men used these things b/c they were old and hard headed. Hell most of the older guys I know use carts.
I'm a computer geek and am kind of OCD about google researching stuff before I buy it. Trucks, guns, knives, computer parts(I built my comp), grills, you name it I googled it. It never entered my mind to google shaving stuff. I just went to walmart, bought the big bag of 3 blade disposables and a can of edge and went about my business. It was just one of those boring things in life that you did, like showering, brushing your teeth, washing clothes, etc, etc.
Now, I have a couple of straights, SRD english bridle strop, chinese 12k hone, 4 DE's, 10 soaps, a couple of brushes, all in 2 months.
And those 25000 members are spread out all over the world, so it's actually even less than that.
DE shaving is still a niche market, and a hidden one at that. Just because we're in that market, and know where to look for it all, doesn't make it less so.
Shelf space cost money and stores want turnover. They won't get it with quality shave soap and razors.
Shelf space cost money and stores want turnover. They won't get it with quality shave soap and razors.
There ARE other wet-shaving supplies out there in Brick-n-Mortar Land ... you just have to look around for them. And hunting for them is half the fun.
KMF / Nivea / Williams / Tweezerman / Muhle / AoS / Jack Black / Anthony Logistics / Bigelow / TBS / L'Occitane / Tabac ... these are all brands that I've held in my hand with just one trip to the mall or supermarket or drugstore.
Besides, with online shopping becoming a regular part of our lives, there is less need for fully-stocked, over-priced retail stores.
KMF / Nivea / Williams / Tweezerman / Muhle / AoS / Jack Black / Anthony Logistics / Bigelow / TBS / L'Occitane / Tabac ... these are all brands that I've held in my hand with just one trip to the mall or supermarket or drugstore.
Besides, with online shopping becoming a regular part of our lives, there is less need for fully-stocked, over-priced retail stores.
What i find here in the uk is certain shops sell certain things, now if 1 shop stocked the lot.......
You gotta realize the average guy is thinking about how to shave as fast as possible. DE shaving is not that for sure. I used to shave in like 1 minute before - of course the results weren't so good, but good enough. Now I take like 10min, so I can understand why people wouldn't.
Before: psshhhhhht scrape scrap scrap finished
Now: swish swish shave shave shave slap finished
Before: psshhhhhht scrape scrap scrap finished
Now: swish swish shave shave shave slap finished
I wouldn't say there are 25,000 people using traditional wet shaving system, e.g. there are 1 Billion people in India, majority of whom are still shaving the traditional way.
On a Gillette TV comercial I heard the other day, they say 600 million men worldwide shave using Gillette, this is only 10% of the global population. I personally think wet shaving is much more widespread than we may realise.
On a Gillette TV comercial I heard the other day, they say 600 million men worldwide shave using Gillette, this is only 10% of the global population. I personally think wet shaving is much more widespread than we may realise.
There's a (probably deliberately) bewildering array of cartridge systems and disposables already. Trac-II and even Sensor cartridges are disappearing from the shelves to make room for modern Gillette/Schick monstrosities and also generic branded similar devices.
Certainly for most men I would say speed is what keeps them away from DEs and straights. My father and both grandfathers have used electric razors as long as I can remember. When I told my father about how long I take to shave, he said "it must be nice to have that much time to waste." Yet I've been a lot happier with shaving the more I take my time, despite never really having much trouble with irritation or ingrowns. My day starts better and I feel more attractive.
Certainly for most men I would say speed is what keeps them away from DEs and straights. My father and both grandfathers have used electric razors as long as I can remember. When I told my father about how long I take to shave, he said "it must be nice to have that much time to waste." Yet I've been a lot happier with shaving the more I take my time, despite never really having much trouble with irritation or ingrowns. My day starts better and I feel more attractive.
And from what I understand, you can buy traditional wetshaving stuff in retail stores there.
In the US, you have a puck of something here, a blade there, a low quality brush somewhere else.
Even though Walmart sold the VDH starter kits, I never seen them until I read about them here. Right in front of my face and it didn't even register in my mind. Sure enough I went and it was there. Now, they're discontinued.
Some companies with particularly aggressive marketing practices, and Gillette is definitely one of them, require that the retailer reserve a certain percentage proportion of the store for their products or else they will not supply the store with these products or the companies reward the retailer by increasing commission percentage progressively according to the amount of units they sell. As always, follow the money trail: there is just not enough money in DE-equipment for the big mainstream brick and mortar retailers to carry them.
Great point, Andrew.
Most men comtinue to use their Fusion or Mach 3 razors and shaving gel or foam in cans, thinking DE shaving or Straight shaving is something "old" or something that no longer belongs to modern people.
And what is more unpleasant is that those men are really losing one of the greatest things a man can have: a true, clean and comfortable shave, or what here we call a "wet shave".
If there is no big interest in wet shaving, then it is clear that there is no interest for common stores and sellers to offer shaving item that men, unfortunately, would not buy.
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It's not just the profit margins of DE-stuff. Gillette et al are pushing out old products with volume. They do this with their own ranges to discourage retailers from stocking blades for old razors, which have lower profit margins for the manufacturer. "Throw out your Mach 3."
In Ireland, most chemists carry something, a few cheap brushes, creams and sticks (Palmolive mostly but some Erasmic or Ingram) and Boots do their own range as well, including a basic DE razor. Wilkinson Sword blades and the plastic Wilkinson DE razor are easily available and the supermarket chains also stock their own brand versions.
From a retailer point of view, what type of customer would you rather have, someone who buys a tube of Palmolive Classic perhaps once every year or eighteen months or someone who buys a tin of Gillette gel every few weeks? I suspect that is why most of the shelf space is given over to the modern stuff. You only notice the soaps and creams if you go looking for them, it will be at the back of the bottom shelf covered in dust.
From a retailer point of view, what type of customer would you rather have, someone who buys a tube of Palmolive Classic perhaps once every year or eighteen months or someone who buys a tin of Gillette gel every few weeks? I suspect that is why most of the shelf space is given over to the modern stuff. You only notice the soaps and creams if you go looking for them, it will be at the back of the bottom shelf covered in dust.
QFT
There's a complicated dance with retailers. Gillette - and many others - actually pay stores to stock their goods in certain locations. They can adjust the wholesale price depending on the product mix in stores, space given to competing products, and a number of other factors. If Gillette comes to you and offers you a few cents per unit off in exchange for dumping DE (or whatever) and you're selling a few million Gillette products a year, that adds up to big money.
Also, retailers have a frightening amount of data on sales per store. A good friend used to work for a company that did sales metrics for several large retailers. My jaw hit the floor when I found out just how analyzed sales data are.
Compound that with the cost accountants and marketing reps from big manufacturing, and small products don't stand a chance.
On the other hand, would you rather buy from a nameless minimum wage clerk looking forward to the shift ending or from some place like WCS or Bullgoose? It might come in the mail, but you get great service and specialized knowledge from our vendors.
How many big tubes of Proraso do you think Target was selling before they quit carrying it? It can't possibly have made sense to keep it on the shelf. Even the canned foam I used to use, Gillette sensitive skin stuff, I didn't go through fast and there's certainly less shaves in a can than a tube of Proraso. I bought a tube of C.O. Bigelow before I knew it and Proraso were the same. So I've got TONS of that cream plus 4-5 soaps already. I've got enough product to shave on the order of years. Unless a store is going to carry 20 kinds of soap/cream so I keep going in to feed the ADs it doesn't make any sense.
Agree or not if you ran the store you wouldn't keep it on the shelf either. Now speciality shops are a different story. I'm sure big cities have them and are quite successful but you're not going to a find shaving supply shop in a town of 30,000.
Agree or not if you ran the store you wouldn't keep it on the shelf either. Now speciality shops are a different story. I'm sure big cities have them and are quite successful but you're not going to a find shaving supply shop in a town of 30,000.
The soaps too?
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