Will King: The Shaving King

The making of the King... dom!

Failures are considered to be the precursor of success but when they come in heaps, confidence creeps out of the window. But, that didn't happen with Will King – the challenger to the Gillette empire. Found unfit to design Yachts and thrown out for sloppy organizational skills, this mariner by heart hung on to carve his niche – by the razor's skin.

Stung by the aftershave rashes, he tried his girlfriend's essential bath oil and it was soothing for sure. He roamed around in aromatherapy shops and procured essential oils in bulk – A cocktail of essential oils was created and bottled as an aftershave miracle. Of his entrepreneurial start, he said: “I filled 10,000 bottles by hand at home. It took me two weeks.”

Now this Will King invention needed a shelf – a respectable one... What better than Harrods?

Next Stop: Harrods
Mohamed Al-Fayed, the owner of Harrods, is a business man to his bones and he responded to Will King's cold calling techniques and perseverance and allowed him to put 12 bottles for £29.

At first Harrods sold one shaving oil every two weeks and the company's first year sales (1993-1994) were £300.

Harrods to Boots
Getting into Boots was easier once King had the Harrods label behind him. 1994 saw his entry into Boots, one of the most respectable departmental stores in the UK. The year-end saw the sales going up to £58,000.

Of his product's folksy look, he commented: “It sat on a Boots shelf with a sad little homemade label stuck on the front of the bottle. But it worked and because it looked amateurish people thought they would give it a try. I would get phone calls and letters saying how it had transformed someone’s life.”

The march onwards
1995 saw the launch of a second shaving oil and one year later came a range of men's skincare products. A collaboration for 'King of Shave' Fragrances with Ted Baker, the clothing chain was another feather in the cap for Mr. King.

Now, the King of Shaves brand is stocked in approximately 30,000 stores worldwide including the US, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and South America. It is estimated that one King of Shaves product is sold every 3.5 seconds. (Wikipedia)

Gillette at Razor's Edge – Azor is coming!
I am sure Gillette bosses won't be amused by Will King's statement - “If Gillette were in the business of making plasma TVs, they would have launched at £10,000, and now they would cost £50,000”.
But, the above rhetoric is not entirely unfounded - and that is where Azor brand of razors by Will King is going to take its cut. Mr. King firmly believes that because of the monopoly in this commodity segment, Gillette has been able to dictate higher prices.
Azor is also set to share the shelves with Gillette and Wilkinson Sword – the two big brothers in the razor business. Azor will be launched in America, Japan, Brazil and South Africa as a first step towards sharing the market pie of £5 billion.
The British launch has proved a hit, with the company claiming to have sold almost 600,000 Azor “handles” since it went on sale last summer – about 9% of the market.

Can Ladies be left behind? Nope. King has also introduced a woman’s version of the razor, called the Azure.

So Ladies & Gentlemen - Look out for the Shaving grace of Azor-Azure!

“I enjoy the challenge of doing what people might think is impossible. People think that Gillette is completely unassailable because it is at the top of the tree. But big companies were small companies once and people forget that.”
- Will King