Question

Dollar Shave Club—

Describe how this $13 billion dollar industry with 75% of the men's razor market being controlled by Gillette and Schick was "disrupted" by the Dollar Shave Club.

Give your opinion for the future of the industry, AND the future of the Dollar Shave Club.

Answer 1

Gillette has been a strong monopoly in men's razor market for so many years since it was introduced in 1901.Until recently US-based start-up, Dollar Shave Club (DSC), which was started in 2011 as an online seller of razors and other accessories challenged it's position.Its low price, product offerings, and unique marketing practices helped the company become highly popular within a short span of time. DSC attracted investments from several venture capitalists and was valued at US$ 615 million in 2015. The case discusses the origin, growth, and unique business practices of DSC, which helped it pose a challenge to established players and emerge as a disruptive force in the men’s shaving industry. Convenience is the secret to DSC’s success. The company is less concerned with design and German engineering and more concerned with fun, convenience, and saving money.

They made their customer’s lives easier. They built helpfulness into the model of their business, and regular subscription just happened to be the best way to do it. Dollar Shave Club added value with convenience. That’s why men are happy to keep paying DSC once a month instead of hunting for a cut-price special in the cosmetics aisle of their supermarket.

Dollar Shave Club has something that Gillette and Schick just can’t match.Dollar Shave Club are another ecommerce innovator that have stumbled into a revolutionary online retail business model developed in direct response to the general male aversion to shopping. Besides considering the psychology of men's shopping,for them buying something like a disposable razor should be simple. There had to be an easier way. There was, and DSC worked it out, to the pleasure of millions of unorganised, convenience-seeking men.

In Dollar Shave Club’s case, customers have both wanted and needed its service, and it has not reached that breaking point where customers do not renew subscriptions because they see the product simply as a luxury rather than essential. Innovation begins with a commitment to providing solutions to both current and future problems. Great brands today are moving past sustaining innovation (a focus on maintaining current status quo) and are instead turning towards a culture of disruptive innovation (big bets that have the potential to revolutionize the market).If Dollar Shave Club continues to innovate and provide more dynamic items and services to the customers then certainly it can survive the influx of new startups with innovative ideas. Dollar Shave Club was acquired by Unilever for a reported $1 billion in cash which has resulted in boast of 3 million subscribers in 2016 and had grabbed nearly 7% of the U.S. shaving market. In future when a multinational company like unilever is along with Dollar Shave Club, they can plan to leverage the global strength in achieving its full potential in terms of offering and reaching out to people globally.