Dollar Shave Club:

Disrupting the shaving

industry.
Rithvik Shetty
19020363
IBM’19
 Decision Dilemma
• As Many competitors provided cheap proprietary razors that
lowered switching cost for customers, Gillette has to
respond to the rapidly growing threat posed by this,
especially by Dollar shaving Club.
• Which strategy to choose apart from spending more for
innovations to the razor that were criticized as
‘unnecessary’ ?
• What should be the new marketing strategy?
 Decision Alternatives
● A major step can be that P&G can acquire Dollar Shaving club before Unilever
does.
● P&Gs Gillette can choose to begin their own shaving club, that has a monthly-
subscription based model.
● They can position it as an elite club where members are a part of the events
conducted by Gillette. They can also giveaway or provide chances for the members
to attend sporting events or car events and even meet with celebrities endorsing the
brand. (As Gillette associates with performance).
 Solution and Suggestion
• Gillette should come up with a shaving club of their own.
• As Gillette has dominated the market for more than a century, it will be easy to target a bigger segment
(middle aged men) to be a part of the club as they are the ones who will associate most with the brand.
Many consumers in this segment will be daily shavers.
• They can create an image of Gillette’s old legacy.
• They have the capability to host events that will draw huge attention and promote the club.
• An elite club will justify Gillette’s higher prices as compared to DSC which is simplistic and informal.
• DSC uses YouTube and other social media platforms for it’s promotion. Similarly, Gillette can target
famous youtubers and influencers who can be associated with the brand by endorsing them and
inviting them for events. This will greatly promote Gillette.
• It is suggested that, Gillette should continue to bring new innovation in the direction of reducing cost
and increasing membership . It will help in maintaining the clubs elite image as these innovations can
be portrayed as luxury or something unique.