$1bn valuation for DSC and for Harry's

Think MySpace (who?)Marketing is POWERFUL and valuable but even the best idea falters if/trends change.

Both DSC and Harry's provide a valuable service to those who REALLY want a $7/mo shipment of what ever is being shipped. Surely you can think of something you wish could be conveniently/affordable shipped to your door on a regular basis that you would pay $7/mo for. Netflix started in a similar fashion (shipped DVD's to your door 3 at a time) and others are trying it with clothing, nuts, soaps etc.

It does seem rather speculative though that such a subscription type services, whose users can change their minds en mass, would be valued so generously.

CBLindsay said:

Think MySpace (who?)Marketing is POWERFUL and valuable but even the best idea falters if/trends change.

Both DSC and Harry's provide a valuable service to those who REALLY want a $7/mo shipment of what ever is being shipped. Surely you can think of something you wish could be conveniently/affordable shipped to your door on a regular basis that you would pay $7/mo for. Netflix started in a similar fashion (shipped DVD's to your door 3 at a time) and others are trying it with clothing, nuts, soaps etc.

It does seem rather speculative though that such a subscription type services, whose users can change their minds en mass, would be valued so generously.

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The cost of entry to a DSC clone would be very low. In fact there are many DSC clones already around the world where their website and marketing were just ripped off...

Sabre said:

The cost of entry to a DSC clone would be very low. In fact there are many DSC clones already around the world where their website and marketing were just ripped off...

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Kind of my point. Myspace was first, and some say better than Facebook. Yet Facebook is the dominant social medial experiment now. Many web based social media type things (Snapchat, instagram etc) come and go very easily because no brick and mortar are required, only viral marketing. Why one rises to the top and others disappear is magic to me. This also makes it difficult to understand the value multiples because what is fad today could be gone tomorrow (or copied and done better). I am sure there have been versions of something like a DSC in the past where a door to door salesman might have signed a person up for home delivery, or at the very minimum tried to sell something at the door- did the Fuller Brush guy sell any shaving brushes?

I remember 20 years ago when my first boy was born, my wife's grandma signed us up for a couple of months of some diaper service that dropped off a bunch of clean cloth diapers each week and picked up the dirty ones. Being young and poor, I didn't look the gift horse in the mouth BUT I am sure it would have been no more costly for her to buy us a load of disposables for that same amount of time. While I would never have even considered the idea, it was the first thing she thought of. That scenario is almost the flip side of DSC, I got a subscription for an OLD SCHOOL way of doing things when a more modern disposable would have been easier and maybe cheaper. My point here is, now those services are not available in my area at all. Even if I found value in them I don't have the option because the push to use disposables was SO strong that a sustainable market did not exist at a price point that was affordable to the working class and they've all closed up shop.

Today's centralized warehousing and drop ship availability makes it possible for anyone to be an "on-line retailer".

I do believe Gillette was the original DSC in North America, probably copying RazWar, with a tie in with Amazon in 2009. Now everyone is claiming they are copying DSC with their "Shave Club". The irony ...

Limekiln said:

I'm not arguing that DSC or Harry's are worth the time of anyone enlightened enough to use this message board. I certainly see no value in them myself.
But the point is the chink in the armor and the attention of big money on businesses that threaten the dominance of Gillette, Schick etc.
Which may, in turn, make the business environment far more friendly for providers of real shaving tools and supplies.
Such as the ones we (enlightened ones) value.

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I completely agree that this may put a bit of a pinch on Gillette's sales but considering that Gillette is under the Proctor and Gamble umbrella, I doubt they will even sweat at the thought of a shave club stepping on their territory, especially since Gillette started their own shave club. Not only that, I personally think that Gillette makes the best DE blades on the market so I would hate to actually see anything like that happen

Seems to me that DSC rose to the top of the "club" thing mainly through clever youtube marketing. Not that that's a bad thing - I seem to recall that marketing was King Gillette's shtick too. Marketing and a little opportunistic war profiteering. Anyway, DCS and Harry's still strike me as mainly selling to guys who view shaving as a daily chore and don't want to think about it any more than they have to. Still, the relative success of Microtouch One makes me think there may be a wider market for DE. Afterall, if cheesy infomercials B-list celebrity endorsement can get people to buy a Weishi at three times the price, imagine what it could do for an actually good razor like an EJ DE89 (and good blades, for that matter)? I'm actually kind of surprised there hasn't already been a mass-marketed razor or "club" idea built around EJ clones, maybe something marketed as "up-scale" kind of like AOS.

CBLindsay said:

did the Fuller Brush guy sell any shaving brushes?

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You bet he did! You can find vintage Fuller shaving brushes on ebay. They look about the same quality as contemporary Everready and Rubberset brushes, which is to say probably not up to modern standards but they did the trick for millions of men "back in the day."

I wonder what's stopping Gillette or Schick from doing the same type of subscription program and just pushing the other guys out of business.

MicBaldy said:

I wonder what's stopping Gillette or Schick from doing the same type of subscription program and just pushing the other guys out of business.

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Gillette is....

Sabre said:

Gillette is....

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I hadn't heard that. So I just looked up Gillette's subscription plans and it doesn't look like they're taking this subscription thing too seriously, because they're not even trying to compete with the prices of DSC. They're not even offering a cheap two blade option. Still if they wanted to, I see no reason why Gillette or Schick wouldn't be able to push the smaller guys out.

Edit: I suppose they probably face issues with deals with the retailers and don't want to deal directly with end users.

There are only six major manufacturers of cartridge razors. Edgewell (Schick/Wilkinson Sword/Personna) supply most third party suppliers including many subscription sites, they are already benefiting from this new medium. Gillette who use second brands in specific countries would not want to diminish the Gillette brand in the West by producing cheap cartridge systems. They produce products under the Astra, Polsilver, Permatik, and Probak second brands for cheap disposables and carts. Personally I don't understand why guys don't just buy a private label product from a drug or grocery store

Rory1262 said:

The exact same for me.

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Same here too. I heard Harry's commercials for weeks on the radio, and for $10, using a coupon code, I got the starter set. This led to further research on the web and I found B&B, Mantic, videos, etc., i.e., another DE shaver was born. Harry's has a decent razor, gives a pretty good shave, but not outstanding, but it does make a good travel razor.

I've found I get every bit as good a shave from Harry's as I do from a Gillette Fusion, at way less than half the price. I know cartridges are not en vogue on this site (and I'm learning to DE shave), but these guys can give the mainstream Gillette/Schick customers a serious alternative.

gillette is hampered by their retail chain, which isn't thrilled about Gillette selling direct. That's why Gillettes club requires you to pick a retailer that will actually deliver the blades, and the prices aren't as good as DSC or Harry's.