Prospecting Report: Harry’s MKTG 5261: Group 1

Harry’s is a personal grooming company that specializes in facial grooming with razors,
but also have face, body, and haird-based soaps and personal care products that they sell as
well (including deodorant). Harry’s was founded in 2012 as a private startup company, but
recently agreed to a deal with Edgewater Personal Care (the parent company of Schick) to sell
Harry’s for $1.37 billion in 2019. It also made the original owners, Andy Katz-Mayfield and Jeff
Raider, the current leaders of U.S. operations (Meyer 2019).
In terms of their target market, Harry’s markets to a male audience aged 25-40. Income
for these male consumers is around $60,000 per year. The company describes wanting to target
“experienced shavers” who not only can appreciate design and performance, but understand
good value as well. Nationwide, the company’s biggest markets are in New York and Los
Angeles (Mirza 2016). Research failed to show any specific cities or areas in Texas Harry’s may
have a competitive marketing advantage. Although this male market has almost not changed at
all for the company since it was first founded, the company did add a female line called
“Flamingo” in 2018. This market is believed to be females with a similar age of 25-40 and
income at around $50,000 per year.
When it comes to financials and economics regarding Harry’s they have made a lot of
progress in their short life as a company thus far. It took the company just five years to record a
yearly revenue of around $200 million. The company was soon sold for $1.37 billion in 2019 to
Edgewater Personal Care, the second-largest competitor in the market behind Gillette. In early
2021, it was announced that the company had raised around $155 million in new funding for
acquisitions to push the overall worth of the company to over $1.7 billion (Glover 2021).
Harry’s biggest competitor, as well as Edgewater’s, has
always been Gillette. Before Harry’s entered the shaving market,
Gillette dominated the market share on men’s razors. As shown in
the pie chart to the right, Gillette owned over 66% in 2013, with
Schick (Edgewater’s main razor brand) barely competing in
second at 18%. Gillette is still the leader in the market, despite
their revenues being slashed by over $5.24 billion in 2019 (Yun
2019). Gillette’s representatives believe this is due to a recent
trend of men choosing to shave more infrequently, and not
because of competing brands.
When looking at Harry's and it’s marketing strategies over
the years, the company has always relied very heavily on two
things. Customer reviews, and their story itself as the ‘underdog’
of shaving just trying to solve a market problem (no simple razors
for a decent price). The strategy has worked, with over 3 million
customers that pay for the company’s subscription service, and
thousands of followers, reviewers, and posts dedicated to product
success (Davies 2020). Harry’s also has multiple partnerships
and collaborations with different companies like Highsnobiety, Topo Designs, Sleepy Jones and
Thom Brown (Harry’s 2021). These partnerships were typically done in the form of the two
companies collaborating to create a unique product that fits both company’s brands. In terms of
sports though, Harry’s has not made any type of attempt to enter the commercial sports market.
Prospecting Report: Harry’s MKTG 5261: Group 1

SOURCES

Glover, E. (2021, April 01). Harry's now valued at $1.7b After $155M Raise, Continues hiring
push. Retrieved April 04, 2021, from
https://www.builtinnyc.com/2021/04/01/harrys-raises-155m-hiring

Meyer, A. (2019, May 09). Harry's co-founders ANDY Katz-Mayfield and Jeff raider to Ink $1.37
billion acquisition deal With SCHICK'S parent company. Retrieved April 04, 2021, from
https://www.inc.com/anna-meyer/schick-razor-buys-harrys-shaving-startup.html

Warner, B. (2016, April 29). How Harry's became the Warby Parker of shaving. Retrieved April
04, 2021, from
https://www.inc.com/magazine/201605/bernhard-warner/harrys-razors-german-factory.html#:~:t
ext=Harry's%20is%20now%20gearing%20up,two%20billion%20blades%20per%20year.

Heath, C. (2020). Harry’s shows it’s not the biggest marketing budgets that win. Retrieved April
04, 2021, from
https://www.canva.com/learn/harrys-shows-its-not-the-biggest-marketing-budgets-that-win/

Davies, S. T. (2020, December 31). We reverse engineered Harry's marketing funnel. Here's
what we found. Retrieved April 04, 2021, from https://sleeknote.com/blog/harrys-marketing

Harry's. (2021). Brand partnerships: Harry's. Retrieved April 04, 2021, from
https://www.harrys.com/en/us/partnerships

Mizra, F. (2014). Harry's Branding Solution. Retrieved 2021, from

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/582cb8b520099eb6f371f696/t/5a1b2fc3085229dcccb5b8
4c/1511731140312/Harry%27s+Branding+Solution.pdf

Yun, J. (2019, August 4). The hairy REASON Gillette's PROFITS plummeted by billions.
Retrieved April 04, 2021, from
https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/gillette-profits-plummet-billions-beard-shave-003050832.htm
l#:~:text=Shaving%20brand%20Gillette%20has%20seen,US%2417.1%20billion%20of%20sales
.