New Artisans

It's actually going to be the ones who are the most successful at marketing themselves that will survive. Quality of the product is the least important factor in business survival for cosmetics. Why? Because pretty much every single product will work.

Agreed. I’ve said this before. We make a great soap. A lot of people make great soaps.
Another difficulty in conversion...you have to convince a guy of two things.
1) that a “chore” can be enjoyable.
2)the can foam is not “good enough”


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

If one could see the books at say WCS, Maggard and Italian Barber (probably the Big Three of online vendors) we could maybe formulate a business theory on the market. However, there are just too many intangibles to really see the macro-economic picture. I still say DE/SE wet shavers are less than 1% of the overall market at best.

As stated, the best product seldom wins. The best business plan does. I've chosen to jump off the newer, faster, shinier, bandwagon and give my money to my favorites. I fully understand that in a market with low barriers to entry there will always be new players coming in and others leaving and that is just fine. I'm going to spend my money with vendors whose products I really like. (I'll rely on others to sort though the new products and find those that I can't live without).

My opinion is the ones that survive will make other products that I consume also like bath soap, shampoo bars, etc. I can only use so much shaving soap, but they get repeat business from me on other products.

As stated, the best product seldom wins. The best business plan does. I've chosen to jump off the newer, faster, shinier, bandwagon and give my money to my favorites. I fully understand that in a market with low barriers to entry there will always be new players coming in and others leaving and that is just fine. I'm going to spend my money with vendors whose products I really like. (I'll rely on others to sort though the new products and find those that I can't live without).

Much wisdom, this comment has.

If I may chime in, a good product is merely table stakes in the game. Without getting into a prolonged discussion on who produces a good product (clearly a YMMV topic,) I have observed that the ones who are running their enterprises like a real business are the ones innovating new scents / new bases / better packaging. The evidence from the producers already points toward how critical marketing is in this business.

There was a discussion earlier this year on the state of the market which was great, because we had both end users and artisans chiming in. I have been proven wrong on my point that cost leadership would be key - if the online wetshaving community is an indicative sample of population metrics, it seems the wetshaver's propensity to splurge on that "one" luxury item, even though sometimes constrained by income, is incredibly robust. Therefore, we are left with differentiation focus as the viable way for being in the wetshaving business.

It's actually going to be the ones who are the most successful at marketing themselves that will survive. Quality of the product is the least important factor in business survival for cosmetics. Why? Because pretty much every single product will work.

Agreed. I’ve said this before. We make a great soap. A lot of people make great soaps.
Another difficulty in conversion...you have to convince a guy of two things.
1) that a “chore” can be enjoyable.
2)the can foam is not “good enough”


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Getting the first-timer is a lot tougher than convincing the already initiated. Unless the average artisan sees them at a Farmer's market or gets a referral, it is unlikely they will be able to convert the average Joe. This opinion is based on my marketing efforts and experience.

The new artisan's appeal is simply being new. This carries much cachet for the first 6 months to a year of "business". It's called the PR bump on Shark Tank and AFAIK business schools. But unless there's something new always coming out, the PR bump fades and you go back to whatever is "normal" business.

So, really, IMO, the challenge for old artisans is to simply remain relevant among our community or simply get a separate income source.

If one could see the books at say WCS, Maggard and Italian Barber (probably the Big Three of online vendors) we could maybe formulate a business theory on the market. However, there are just too many intangibles to really see the macro-economic picture. I still say DE/SE  wet shavers are less than 1% of the overall market at best.

I think 1% is being extremely generous. I think it's closer to 1/100,000 or 1/50,000 men. And given the beard trend, it's far more likely for a guy to just grow it out than to search for a better way.

I think it is great that folks are jumping in and giving it a try. Most new businesses don't make it and folks need to realize this on the front end. There is plenty of room for innovation in this industry. It's also important for entrepreneurs to pivot as needed to address market needs.