Dollar Shave Club was an Internet sensation last year with their clearly clever, viral videos. They also have a pretty big pot of venture capital funds behind them; but how are they doing? Not so well it turns out. And to be fair it’s only been about three years, and yet their market penetration is relatively trivial. And now they have attracted competition … big time.
The total razor blade cartridge market is estimated at about $1.8B/year. These are purchased by about 36MM people per year. Dollar Shave Club has an estimated 200,000 subscribers. This is about 0.6% market share. Not much really given the hype. They are clearly well within the Pioneer and Innovator stage of the innovation adoption curve. And now they have attracted competitors, such as 800razors.com, which is owned by Energizer (known for clever battery ads themselves).
800razors.com has their own value proposition they believe will put a dent in Dollar Shave Club’s momentum. Maybe, but that momentum seems to be more smoke than fire, so they better hope they can also accelerate the adoption rate of online razor purchase, or it won’t matter anyway.
Mitch
