New face wants a cut of the shaving action

To keep prices down, King of Shaves shuns celebrity endorsements and expensive advertising campaigns.

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AS MEN reach for their razors to mark the end of Movember, an upstart shaving company is using the occasion to take on industry giant Gillette.

King of Shaves has carved a niche for itself in the shaving preparations market with its range of shaving oils and gels. Now it has launched its first razor, the Azor, which it hopes will whittle away at the market dominance of brands such as Gillette.

King of Shaves New Zealand manager Dave McLeod estimates the market for non-disposable razors in this country is worth about $30 million a year. This compares to just $10m a year for the shaving preparations market in which the company is already No3, behind Gillette and Nivea.

He aims to take about about 15% of the razor market within its first year and believes most of that will come at Gillette's expense because, with an estimated 80% market share, "they have the most to lose".

He has no illusions about the task ahead and is expecting a tough fight from the world's biggest shaving products supplier.

McLeod said the razor market was mainly driven by technical innovation, which forced customers to upgrade to increasingly expensive shaving systems.

However, buyers were now baulking at the prices of some of the latest razors which had created an opening for the Azor.

McLeod said the aim was to provide a technologically competitive product but at a much cheaper price.

At $3 a cartridge, the Azor is nearly half the price of its competitors' top-end blades.

To keep prices down, King of Shaves shuns celebrity endorsements and expensive advertising campaigns favoured by its competitors.

Instead the company is relying on a promotional team of young women in a Hummer vehicle offering men free shaves at shopping malls and events like the Big Boys Toys show, where they shaved more than 1000 faces in three days.

So far the strategy is working, and McLeod said although the Azor had been in the shops for only two weeks, the company was having to fly in additional stock to keep up with demand.

And will the King of Shaves be joined by a Queen?

McLeod confirmed the company would be introducing a women's razor next year, but said it was too early to give details of how it would be promoted.

- © Fairfax NZ News