“I’m glad our timing was good – we’re ahead of the big guy!” says Will King, referring to the “happy coincidence” that King of Shaves launched its new razor one day before Gillette launched what King termed “its more expensive version of the Fusion”.
Indeed, King of Shaves’ latest razor, the Azor M, aims to grab even more of Gillette’s market-share.
“The Azor M pits us directly up against Gillette, but with a more affordable price point in a very competitive market,” he explains.
Weighing 47 grams and built with a hand-polished metal alloy handle, the Azor M is definitely targeting a different audience than King of Shaves’ first razor, the Azor.
“When we launched the Azor – which only weighed 17 grams – we were going for young guys,” he explains. “With the Azor M, we wanted to keep the same simple manufacturing style, but bring in this heavier metal alloy – ‘older people’ are used to having a heavier razor.”
King of Shaves is certainly giving Gillette a run for its money. Twenty months after launching its razor range, the company already has a ten per cent market share of the razor handle market – much higher than the one to two per cent that the market expected King of Shaves to reach.
King won’t stop there, though. Within the next four to five years, he says, the aim is to own 25 per cent of the razor market share in the UK.
“We’re on track for that,” King says. “I quite like where we are so far, but ultimately the ability to get more razor handles in the market is down to our ability to convince people to switch from the competition.”
King of Shaves also continues to have international plans. The company entered the US market last summer, and it’s been “good” thus far, he says. King’s products are already sold in 300 stores in Manhattan, and the company is rolling out across a further 3,000 east coast stores this spring.
Exciting times for the company, then. But what about the women’s market, surely this is a huge space for King to move in to?
“We’ve got an announcement coming on that in about a month’s time, so I can’t really talk about it. But it’s new, and it’s coming – that’s it!”
Women entrepreneurs, watch this space. A new generation of shaveware could very well be on its way to you soon…
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