Dollar Shave Club

Dollar Shave Club
Subsidiary
Industry Consumer packaged goods
Founded January 18, 2011 (2011-01-18)[1]
Founder Michael Dubin and Mark Levine
Headquarters Venice, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Area served
 United States, Canada, and Australia
Products

Blades
The Humble Twin, The 4X, The Executive
Dr. Carver's
Shave Butter, Post Shave, Repair Serum
Boogie's Hair Care
Gel, Clay, Cream, Fiber, Paste, Pomade
Other

One Wipe Charlies
Parent Unilever
Website www.dollarshaveclub.com

Dollar Shave Club is a Venice, California-based company that delivers razors and other personal grooming products straight to consumers by mail.[2] The company positions itself as a cost-effective and convenient alternative to retail chains. It delivers razor blades on a monthly basis and offers additional grooming products for home delivery.[3][4]

History

Dollar Shave Club was founded by Mark Levine and Michael Dubin. The pair met at a party and spoke of their frustrations with the cost of razor blades. With their own money and investments from start-up incubator Science Inc., they began operations in January 2011 and launched their website in April 2011.[5][6][7][8]

Dollar Shave Club is backed by a variety of venture capitalists. In March 2012, seed investors provided $1 million in funding from groups that included Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Andreessen Horowitz, Shasta Ventures, and others.[9] The same group, joined by Venrock, provided $9.8 million in series A funding in October 2012.[10] A year later, a $12 million series B round was raised led by Venrock, Comcast Ventures, New World Investors and Battery Ventures. Amidst the fundraising announcement, Dollar Shave Club announced it would be expanding its product line to include a dozen other men’s products in 2014.[11] In June 2015, the company secured $75 million in series D funding.[12] On July 19, 2016, Dollar Shave Club was acquired by Unilever for a reported $1 billion in cash. [13]

Membership

The initial welcome packet from Dollar Shave Club.
The initial welcome packet from Dollar Shave Club.

Dollar Shave Club offers three membership plans, which can be upgraded or downgraded at any time.[14] The membership service first launched March 6, 2012, via a YouTube video that went viral.[15] The YouTube video attracted an unanticipated amount of traffic, that crashed the company’s server in the first hour. Once Dubin got the server working, he enlisted a team of friends and contractors to help fulfill the 12,000 orders that arrived in the first 48 hours of launching the video. The orders were initially packed by hand in a warehouse in Gardena, California, before the company moved their warehouse and fulfillment to a third-party logistics center in Kentucky.[2]

Since the membership launch, the company has acquired 2 million subscribers.[12] Although the company primarily markets its products to men, approximately 20 percent of its customers are women.[16]

Products

Dollar Shave Club offers three plans: "The Humble Twin" (two blades per razor, five razors per month, $3 per month), "The 4X" (four blades, four razors, $6), and "The Executive" (six blades, four razors, $9).[17] Each subscription comes with a compatible handle.

The company also sells related accessories, such as shave butter,[18] wet wipes,[7] and moisturizer.[19]

In late 2012, the company launched its program in Canada and Australia.[20][21]

In 2015, the company expanded its product line to include hair care products, called "Boogie's".[22] The line includes hair gel, hair cream, hair paste, hair clay and hair fiber.[23]

In May 2015, the company began hiring writers and editors for a new website, Mel Magazine, which went online in late 2015. The website contains editorial content described by the company as "men's lifestyle topics".[24][25]

In December 2015, Gillette filed a patent infringement lawsuit that claimed Dollar Shave Club used its patented formulas to manufacture copycat blades.[26][27]

Promotion

On March 6, 2012, the company uploaded a YouTube video entitled “Our Blades Are F***ing Great” featuring CEO Michael Dubin, delivering his speech in a nonchalant and sarcastic manner.[28] The video prompted 12,000 orders in a two-day span after it was released, and has received over 22 million views as of March 2016.[3][29]

The video won “Best Out-of-Nowhere Video Campaign” at the 2012 AdAge Viral Video Awards.[30] Dollar Shave Club was awarded a 2013 Webby Award in the Fashion & Beauty category [31] and earned the People's Choice Webby Award in the Consumer Packaged Goods category.[32]

On June 4, 2013, Dollar Shave Club released a second video on YouTube called "Let's Talk About #2", which again starred its CEO and promoted One Wipe Charlies.[7] The video won the Shorty Award in 2014 for best use of Social Media.[33]

In 2014, Dollar Shave Club and its One Wipe Charlies teamed up with the Colon Cancer Alliance in an effort to help “wipe out” colon cancer.[34] The company reports that during National Colorectal Cancer Awareness month it reached 23 million people in spreading the message about the importance of getting screened. The company also donated $10,000 to the Colon Cancer Alliance, contributing a percentage of One Wipe Charlies' sales and putting a dollar value on social shares.[35] As part of the campaign, Michael Dubin had his own colonoscopy streamed live online.[36]

References

  1. ↑ "DollarShaveClub.com WHOIS, DNS, & Domain Info - DomainTools". WHOIS. Retrieved 2016-10-29.
  2. 1 2 Dahl, Darren (April 11, 2013). "Riding the Momentum Created by a Cheeky Video". The New York Times. Retrieved August 18, 2014.
  3. 1 2 Naziri, Jessica (August 16, 2013). "Dollar Shave Club co-founder Michael Dubin had a smooth transition". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 28, 2014.
  4. ↑ "Man Trades Clothes for a Razor in Dollar Shave Club Spot". AdAge. Retrieved June 7, 2015.
  5. ↑ Glazer, Emily (2012-04-12). "A David and Gillette Story". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2012-09-12.
  6. ↑ "Dollar Shave Club: A Start-Up's Viral Ad for 'F***ing Great' Razors Is a Big Hit". TIME.com. 2012-03-12. Retrieved 2012-03-19.
  7. 1 2 3 Colao, J.J. "Dollar Shave Club: Breaking The Razor Blade Monopoly". Forbes. Retrieved April 30, 2014.
  8. ↑ Jewish Daily Forward: "Jewish Buddies Who Founded Dollar Shave Club Cash In With $1B Unilever Deal" by Laura E. Adkins July 20, 2016
  9. ↑ O'Dell, J. "Dollar Shave Club's blades are "so f*cking great" they just raised a round for 'em". Venture Beat. Retrieved April 29, 2014.
  10. ↑ Chapman, Lizette. "Dollar Shave Club Picks Up $10M to Grow Beyond Razors". Dow Jones. Retrieved April 30, 2014.
  11. ↑ Truong, Alex. "Dollar Shave Club Raises $12 Million to Offer More Grooming Products". Fast Company. Retrieved April 30, 2014.
  12. 1 2 Dave, Paresh (June 22, 2015). "Up to 2 million members, Dollar Shave Club worth $615 million, investors say". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
  13. ↑ "Unilever Buys Dollar Shave Club for $1 Billion". Fortune. 2016-07-19. Retrieved 2016-07-19.
  14. ↑ Sadasivam, Krishna. "Review: The Dollar Shave Club". The PC Weenies. Retrieved August 18, 2014.
  15. ↑ Janjigian, Robert. "Small beauty renegades make headway amid giants". Palm Beach Daily News. Retrieved August 18, 2014.
  16. ↑ Stock, Kyle. "Dollar Shave Plots to Take Over Your Bathroom". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved August 18, 2014.
  17. ↑ "Our Blades". Dollar Shave Club. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  18. ↑ Carney, Michael. "Not just razors anymore: Dollar Shave Club introduces wet wipes for your other sensitive areas". Pando Daily. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  19. ↑ Neff, Jack. "Dollar Shave Club Goes 'Upscale' With $9 Moisturizer". Ad Age. Retrieved August 18, 2014.
  20. ↑ Mitroff, Sarah (November 2, 2012). "$10 Million Shave Club: Discount Razor Service Is a Hit With Investors". Wired. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  21. ↑ Mitchell, Sue. "'Our wipes are f***ing great': How Dollar Shave Club's Michael Dubin plans to 'own the man in the bathroom' with $US12m in new funding". BRW. Retrieved April 30, 2014.
  22. ↑ Ha, Anthony. "Now Dollar Shave Club Sells Hair Gel, Too". TechCrunch. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  23. ↑ "Dollar Shave Club Adds Hair Care". Happi. 25 March 2015.
  24. ↑ Perlberg, Steven (11 November 2015). "Dollar Shave Club Launches Men's Interest Editorial Destination Called 'MEL'". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  25. ↑ Marshall, Jack; Perlberg, Steven (14 May 2015). "Mattress Company Hires Journalists". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  26. ↑ Woolhouse, Megan (2015-12-18). "Gillette sues Dollar Shave Club for patent infringement". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2015-12-18.
  27. ↑ Harwell, Drew (18 December 2015). "Gillette's lawsuit could tilt the battle for America's beards". Washington Post. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
  28. ↑ Kaye, Kate. "Why YouTube Darling Dollar Shave Club Is Buying TV Ads". AdvertisingAge. Retrieved April 30, 2014.
  29. ↑ "DollarShaveClub.com - Our Blades Are F***ing Great". Youtube. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
  30. ↑ "Google Takes Top Honors at Viral Video Awards". AdAge. 2012-04-17. Retrieved 2012-09-12.
  31. ↑ "Webby Awards: Fashion & Beauty". Webby Awards. 2013-05-22. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
  32. ↑ "Webby Awards: Consumer Packaged Goods". Webby Awards. 2013-05-22. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
  33. ↑ "Best Use of Social Media for Retail or E-Commerce". Shorty Awards. Retrieved April 30, 2014.
  34. ↑ "Dollar Shave Club". Colon Cancer Alliance. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  35. ↑ "We Reached 23 Million People!". Dollar Shave Club. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  36. ↑ Neporent, Liz. "Man Live Tweets His Colonoscopy". ABC News. Retrieved May 1, 2014.

External links

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