Thread: Dovo Insolvency ???

If it isn't related to Covid-19 sound like a good time to use it as an excuse...............

It's a sign of our times. Cheap and Cheerful are king, Traditional Solid Quality has been dethroned.

Originally Posted by Kees

It's a sign of our times. Cheap and Cheerful are king, Traditional Solid Quality has been dethroned.

In a way that's the conundrum for the manufacturer.

While I realize their business is more than razors... looking just at the razors it's hard to justify continued production. A razor off the line today is no better than one made 80 years ago from a practical perspective. There are plenty of vintage razors sitting around... as we all know a well cared for razor will last a lifetime.

Completely the opposite from say, the I-Phone model which is sustained by inherent obsolescence... It's an interesting problem... one that's not good for their bottom line... compounded by a slow growth market...

It’s a business model sure to fail in today’s time. The majority do not use a straight and it’s a passing fad for most hipsters, and millennials. Dovo Ramped for the short term demand, borrowed more and now demand has curtailed, it’s not disposable! It’s a niche market at best. We are super stoked but we are the minority and years from now a lot of razors by the guys who tryed and finally decided it wasn’t for them will turn up in drawers or garages abandoned. Even us die hard users slow down on hardware and software, cause it’s just a chore not a hobby anymore, we shave. Tc

Originally Posted by HungeJ0e

In a way that's the conundrum for the manufacturer.

While I realize their business is more than razors... looking just at the razors it's hard to justify continued production. A razor off the line today is no better than one made 80 years ago from a practical perspective. There are plenty of vintage razors sitting around... as we all know a well cared for razor will last a lifetime.

Completely the opposite from say, the I-Phone model which is sustained by inherent obsolescence... It's an interesting problem... one that's not good for their bottom line... compounded by a slow growth market...

Exactly. This could be a lecture in any business class today. You nailed it.

The Skyfall effect has dwindled. They were out of stock for months due to increased sales when the film came out. 007 needs to wield a straight razor in the next one, which ironically will be titled No Time to Die.

Am I the only one that gets grumpy when a person in a film is using terrible technique while "using" a straight razor. My kids laugh as I comment about the poor angle that a person uses and how they would get nothing but cuts and a poor shave at best.

Dovo's management never seemed to grasp that their survival didn't hinge on begrudgingly selling increasingly-basic straight razors to the rapidly-declining populations of European countries but on actively trying to make repeat sales to us crazy (mainly) US collectors. Boker understands this and offers a shifting range of high-margin, high-quality razors through a number of outlets. I got a new Boker this week and it's not only very different from my other Bokers, but its quality is considerably higher than any of my last few new-build Dovos.

Years ago, in the late Cretaceous period, I went to the Dovo web site and managed to find a pdf of their reseller catalog for the year. They had page after page of straights, maybe thirty models, of which maybe five or six were actually offered by any retailer I could find in the US. Naturally, Dovo had no way for a mere customer to order from them directly. If I could have, I'd have bought a bunch of razors that day and made a point of checking back for new ones periodically. With just a bit more marketing and sales effort (up from none whatsoever) they could have cultivated enough collectors to keep their straight business ticking over nicely between the periodic Skyfall-style bonanzas. Nope. Whatever resources they had were spent trying to get people to buy artisanal nail-clippers, a market where they'd lost the race to the bottom by 1985.

I've assumed for a few years that someone will eventually do a documentary piece on the enormous carbon footprint and environmental impact of making, marketing and disposing of disposable shaving cartridges and that the uproar would nudge at least a couple of million people back toward DE and straight shaving. This would certainly help keep a number of the old-school guys afloat. Maybe we'll all finally learn about shaving after we've heard the heart-warming story behind the ten-thousandth startup making $75 eco-toothbrushes and $50 wrapperless soaps. In the meantime, I'm hoping Ralf Aust will buy the Dovo assets, kick out the nail-clipper guys, and scale up his operation.

Originally Posted by Badgister

The Skyfall effect has dwindled.

It's reckoned that 007 is the man that has kept Aston Martin alive for the past 30 years.

Originally Posted by 32t

If it isn't related to Covid-19 sound like a good time to use it as an excuse...............

My thoughts too except you don't really need an excuse. Any business that was at all marginal heading into this would be foolish to try to weather the storm ahead IMO.