Unilever knows that it has to keep up with digital trends to survive, and launched its “Connected 4 Growth” program last year in the face of lower growth rates and more disruptive competitors. It has taken “valuable lessons” from DSC, its 2016 annual report states, especially when it comes to innovation. Jope said that “Ripping up the rule book and learning new business models,” is one of the key things the company is learning from DSC, as well as its focus on customer service: It sent razors to a guy out of a job while he was interviewing. “It’s a reminder to all our brands that the people who buy our products should always come first and be the focus of what we do,” Jope added.
Yet while people might be happy to get a delivery of razors each month, they might not feel the same about other grooming products, said Schadler. He expects Unilever to expand the categories it sells in this way, but thinks it will be “very hard” to do.
DSC already sells other products including shaving balms, shampoos and even $4 toilet wipes (launched, of course, with a video featuring Dubin on the toilet), but the razor blades make up 78 percent of revenues, according to Slice Intelligence.
While Unilever and DSC won’t say where in the world they want to go next (as well as the U.S., the brand has small operations in Canada and Australia,) Brazil is the second largest razor market outside the States with $5.6 billion in sales, according to Euromonitor. The U.K. is also a major market for razors ($2.4 billion in annual sales) and is where Korean company Dorco, which supplies DSC, has already launched a subscription service.
