Blade Runner

Changing your razor blade is no soft touch decision. After years of teaching my old three-blader to recognise and traverse the craggy features of my cheeks and jaw (I prefer to shave without a mirror) I took the plunge last week and swapped for one of the new Azor razors from King of Shaves. The Azor is the first British designed, engineered and manufactured razor in over a century and it was launched last June in a bid to win a share of the £315m annual sales of razors in the UK alone in a duopolistic market dominated by Gillette and Wilkinson Sword.

An article in the Independent a couple of years back found that

“About 1.7 billion men remove facial hair, 1.3 billion of them with blade and razor. Each of those customers shaves 20,000 times in a lifetime, spending 139 24-hour days removing 27ft of facial fuzz.”

Perfecting this early morning ritual is just about as important as it gets ... so it was with some trepidation that I took the Azor for a test-drive.

Three mornings later and the results are pretty good!!

The Azor is a razor with attitude which after just a few days is easy to adjust to and which gives high quality results. It arrives in the shops just fifteen years after the appearance of the KoS Original Shaving Oil inspired and developed by the Founder Will King. A million men each day now use King of Shaves shaving gels, oils and serums and, backed by a typically boisterous and snappy marketing campaign including a national tour from the KoS Azor Bus and some great features on You Tube, Azor has made a remarkable entry into the market.

We have here a living and breathing example of how to break down some of the barriers of a comfortable duopoly.

I am delighted to say that Will King has agreed to be one of our keynote speakers at the Economics Teacher National Conference at the superb British Library Auditorium on Thursday 18th June this year.

The King of Shaves story is a tremendous case study and covers so many business and economic issues - ranging from growth strategies, breaking down entry barriers, corporate social responsibility, the importance of innovation through continuous testing and research, through to protecting intellectual property, pricing (the Azor razor is cheaper and the blades are significantly better value), to the challenges of managing a fast-growing business and meeting the ever changing needs of customers - both male and female!

Details of the conference are here - we will be announcing the names of other speakers in the new future.

Gillette Fusion Stealth Power Razor £9-78
Wilkinson Sword Quattro Titanium Precision Razor £7-82
Gillette Mach 3 Turbo Razor £6-34
King Of Shaves Azor Razor Warp £4-88

Source: Boots.com (accessed, 7 January 2009)

For now I have upgraded to the Azor from my old friend the ‘Wilkinette’ and I urge fellow clean cut economists to consider doing the same! Conference delegates will get the chance to try when they take away their own summer-personal grooming goodie bag!