I hate having to buy everything online!
Will DE shaving gain enough traction to become mainstream again?
- Thread starter louisvillewes
- Start date
Not unless over half the male population of the U.S. turns to DE shaving, and that doesn't seem very likely at all.
- Thread starter
- #3
It seems like the market is growing, and the demand is growing for an alternative to can and cartridge shaving. Plus, the cost of cartridges is ever rising. I would think people would get fed up.
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Hopefully never. The big money shave corporations will need to make money somehow. and if everyone switches they will just raise the price of the goods to meet the profit of the expensive stuff now.
Amen.
I doubt this. This is a global economy, and anything you want is just a mouse click away. Even if, say, one forth of the American men who shave, say 20 million people, it wouldn't be a big boost in the overall numbers worldwide, considering all the people in Asia, Africa, Russia, and around the world who use DE systems. It just wouldn't be that much of an increase in demand. Additionally, the producers of this gear, located in Russia, India, China, Egypt, etc would be prohibited by their local market conditions from raising prices significantly. And theres a lot of producers...a lot of competition.
Yeah, Gillette would certainly try to raise their prices, but that's pretty much a given regardless.
If 1/4 of the American population of shaving aged males switch to Traditional shaving, they would empty the supply of all online vendors and artisan makers overnight. That is a much greater increase than I think you realize. We are very much the minority right now.
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- #9
But if we've established that wet shaving (DE or single blade) is the most beneficial method for ones face, wouldn't it be nice to see big companies across the world invest in wet shaving innovations, such as new razors, soaps, and blades? I agree with aldomario that in this global economy, prices would have to remain competitive. I understand that profit is why companies have moved in the direction of cans and cartridges, but at some point, if the demand is there for traditional shaving methods, one would think stores would start carrying them.
I'm not sure what "innovation" is necessary. It's a pretty simple thing, and they could only make it more complicated.
The artisanal soap makers do a very good job. The ATTs and Mulhles and so on of the world do a very good job. You can get soaps and razors that are very, very overbuilt and luxurious already. That Wolfman razor -- nobody needs a razor that nice as it is.
It's like craft beer makers. Would Coors or Bud make a better beer if they got into craft beer making? No. Is there enough great beer for everybody who wants it now? Pretty much. And there are new ones every day.
You can already blow your whole paycheck on shaving stuff as it is. And if this tiny niche continues to grow, there will be many many more opportunities to blow your paycheck.
And, frankly, part of the joy of being into a weird little niche is the very fact that it's weird and little. It's a hidden world for you to discover, a secret for you to share with your friends. I can promise you nobody was all that obsessed with DE shaving back when DE shaving was basically mandatory.
I hope not. I want to remain special.
DE shaving has been growing impressively in geometric (short of exponential) proportions. Various articles put the growth at 50 to 60 percent per year, and AoS has seen a 10-fold increase in DE related sales since 2009. Still, those year-over-year gains, and cumulative gains, grew from a base of near zero. Gillette discontinued DE razors shortly after the Trac II came out in 1971, and never got back into the business in earnest. It is hard telling just how many men have gone to traditional shaving, but you can play with some numbers. 25% of American men use electrics. P & G, led by Gillette, holds 62% of the wet shaving market. Schick (16%), Bic (13%), and Wilkinson (4%) take up the rear.
http://www.slideshare.net/subashpb/gillette-and-mens-wet-shaving-market
By some estimates, house brands take 4 to 6 percent, so overall the DE market, for all its gains, still represents something barely around 1% or even less, with the straight and shavette purists being even smaller. No mainstream retailer is going to go out of its way to make precious shelf space for the 1%.
There are several reasons why potential DE growth has serious limitations. Most men, and perhaps nearly all of us at some time, think of shaving as a necessary chore, to be made as short, convenient, and unceremonious as possible. They would have no interest in a practice that requires adding a couple minutes to build lather when canned goop will do. They would have no interest in switching to something that, from a safety standpoint, requires careful sculpting-like motions when fairly idiot-proof sweeps of a cartridge will do. As part of the masses, they are lulled by advertising. The high cost of the latest cartridges may not seem so bad if you stock ahead. A 12-pack of Fusion cartridges, which Gillette represents as a year supply, now sells for $40 at Target. There is a general perception that when older ways of doing things were superseded by new ones, it was because the new ways were clearly superior.
DE shaving is actually mainstream enough to justify some retail presence. Stores around here, such as Kroger and CVS, each stock a tiny selection of DE blades. At a high price, Art of Shaving has a presence in many urban areas. That Pawn Stars guy, I guess from TV, has promoted the Micro Touch - clearly a Weishi or something comparable - into Bed Bath and Beyond, Target, and other stores. Still, the market is so limited that the outlets have to go online for a far reach to scattered customers. Through eBay, Amazon, and Etsy, we have fairly inexpensive selections from all over the world.
If it is of any consolation, you practically have to go online for mainstream products too. I first started shopping online when I continued refusing to buy into Gillette's latest "system" and I found I could get TracII/Atra compatible cartridges cheap in bulk. Cartridge prices from housebrand overstocks and non-retail packaging, if bought in lots of 20 to 100, save at least half and usually more from drug and discount store prices. For the convenience of a neighborhood store, there is always a premium on retail stocking and merchandising labor, square footage overhead, and various brick-and-mortar store expenses.
http://www.slideshare.net/subashpb/gillette-and-mens-wet-shaving-market
By some estimates, house brands take 4 to 6 percent, so overall the DE market, for all its gains, still represents something barely around 1% or even less, with the straight and shavette purists being even smaller. No mainstream retailer is going to go out of its way to make precious shelf space for the 1%.
There are several reasons why potential DE growth has serious limitations. Most men, and perhaps nearly all of us at some time, think of shaving as a necessary chore, to be made as short, convenient, and unceremonious as possible. They would have no interest in a practice that requires adding a couple minutes to build lather when canned goop will do. They would have no interest in switching to something that, from a safety standpoint, requires careful sculpting-like motions when fairly idiot-proof sweeps of a cartridge will do. As part of the masses, they are lulled by advertising. The high cost of the latest cartridges may not seem so bad if you stock ahead. A 12-pack of Fusion cartridges, which Gillette represents as a year supply, now sells for $40 at Target. There is a general perception that when older ways of doing things were superseded by new ones, it was because the new ways were clearly superior.
DE shaving is actually mainstream enough to justify some retail presence. Stores around here, such as Kroger and CVS, each stock a tiny selection of DE blades. At a high price, Art of Shaving has a presence in many urban areas. That Pawn Stars guy, I guess from TV, has promoted the Micro Touch - clearly a Weishi or something comparable - into Bed Bath and Beyond, Target, and other stores. Still, the market is so limited that the outlets have to go online for a far reach to scattered customers. Through eBay, Amazon, and Etsy, we have fairly inexpensive selections from all over the world.
If it is of any consolation, you practically have to go online for mainstream products too. I first started shopping online when I continued refusing to buy into Gillette's latest "system" and I found I could get TracII/Atra compatible cartridges cheap in bulk. Cartridge prices from housebrand overstocks and non-retail packaging, if bought in lots of 20 to 100, save at least half and usually more from drug and discount store prices. For the convenience of a neighborhood store, there is always a premium on retail stocking and merchandising labor, square footage overhead, and various brick-and-mortar store expenses.
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Don't worry. You'll always be "special"! [emoji13]
Not gonna happen, sadly.
Just don't mess with my Florida Water prices. I need a little voodoo that's not to pricey.
You're asking two different questions.
Will wet shaving with quality products grow market share? Undoubtedly.
Will DE/SE shaving make any sort of comeback? Highly doubtful.
Will wet shaving with quality products grow market share? Undoubtedly.
Will DE/SE shaving make any sort of comeback? Highly doubtful.
I doubt it, but B&B membership has increased because of the mass market penetration of the Micro Touch One and VDH razor.
This discussion seems to be largely focused on the American numbers. As pointed out, this is a very tiny percentage in America, maybe 1% or so, or about 1 million DE shavers. But how many DE shavers are there in China, India, Egypt? I don't know, but my guess is that a far far higher percentage of men in those countries use DE, if only because a DE blade is so much more affordable, particularly to a man in the developing world to whom a quarter for a tuck might be hard to come by, much less money for cartridges?
Just guessing here, but I'd imagine the total number of men who shave must be about two billion or so, the vast majority of whom live in poverty by American standards. Am I off base in imagining that the total number of DE users worldwide must be well over, oh, 100 million or maybe even far higher?
Just guessing here, but I'd imagine the total number of men who shave must be about two billion or so, the vast majority of whom live in poverty by American standards. Am I off base in imagining that the total number of DE users worldwide must be well over, oh, 100 million or maybe even far higher?
Until very recently, DE shaving dominated in India, a country with 500 million men. I imagine there were similar numbers in other parts of the world where the per capita income was $500 or less. This is why DE blades are still produced.
Then Gillette introduced the Gillette Guard, a cartridge razor which was priced extremely cheaply for the Indian market. Gillette claims the Guard now has 58% of the shaving market in India -- in a country of 1 billion, that's 250 million men who've switched to cartridges in the past four years. This is a pretty astonishing for a product that has only been around a few years.
So globally, DE shaving is really in a spiral. The DE enthusiast community in the developed world is probably dwarfed by the number of men that switch from DE to cartridges every month.
Having said that, I'm not sure it really matters.
