Dollar Shave Club Wants to Undercut Gillette One Dollar Razor At a Time

How much has Gillette spent convincing guys that their razors are “the best a man can get?” There’s no definitive figure, but a significant portion of what you pay for the brand name blades goes towards marketing and advertising to implant that thought in your mind.

A new product of the month startup called the Dollar Shave Club (you’ll have to take our word on this, the flood of guys interested in dollar razors has kept the site down most of the day) wants to cut all of that out and bring pricing down to where  it would be if you replaced TV spots and magazine ads with social media. As the name implies, that price is just $1 for a 1-month supply of double blade razors. The fanciest package is $9/month and offers a month’s worth of six blade razors.

“I don’t know if you’ve bought razors lately, but this is astoundingly cheap. In fact, razor blades are the cliché people use to convey a business that continually bilks customers out of money, long after a modest initial purchase. (See also: Printer ink. Bastards!)

One time — when we were particularly strapped for cash — my husband and I were in Costco comparing per-razor costs trying to figure out the best way to buy these obscenely overpriced four-blade luxury items in bulk. At one point my husband screamed in frustration at the heavens, “ARE THEY MAKING RAZOR BLADES OUT OF OIL!?” Like most consumers, the price points just made no sense to us. An eight pack of Gilette Fusion Pro-Glide razors can run you north of $50.” {PandoDaily}

 Judging by how long the site has been down, social media and online marketing – which was kicked off through a partnership with Thrillist – seems to be working pretty well. It’s too early for reviews on how quality compares, but if the Dollar Shave Club razors are half as good at a fifth of the price, we’re pretty sure lots of guys will take the savings and go for second best.