SMF

From this post over at The Shave Den:

TargetShaving, post: 799028, member: 14411 wrote:Hello shaving aficionados...I'm the buyer at Target that decides what items get carried on the shelves for consumers to buy. I am well aware that The Shave Den's passion for shaving goes far beyond what Target will likely ever offer, but I'm looking to try and be increasingly relevant for people that are looking for more than a Fusion razor and Edge Shave Gel. In the last year or so I've added a lineup of van der Hagen products (including the double edge razor), Caffeinated Shaving Cream and After Shave from Pacific Shaving Co., and offer about 10 more facial skincare items than years prior. I've started a Twitter account (@TargetShaving) for people to follow, learn about new products, and provide suggestions for new ones. I'd appreciate a follow there or if you aren't a Twitter user and would like to post your thoughts here, that works too. Thanks all.

That a buyer for a nationwide store chain is reaching out to traditional wetshavers is heartening. It shows that yes, the traditional wetshaving enthusiasts are being heard, even if we don't always realize it. I figure that Shave My Face members deserve to be heard, too. This is one of the oldest wetshaving forums, after all, and has directly or indirectly spawned most of the others. What better place to provide feedback and opinions?

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Target, @TargetShaving or any wetshaving products vendor. I just thought you guys would like to know so your voices can be added to the choir. Anything that promotes traditional wetshaving is good in my humble opinion.

Thanks for the heads up.

Hope they make a better go of it than they did in Canada.

Well at least they're asking.

I wonder if the representative has consulted any of the vendors from whom we buy our stuff. I'd think they could learn a lot about their targeted market (and their competition!). I do admire Target for having offered Proraso products in the past. Also, recently a young man I know called me from Target to inquire about the VDH DE razors he spotted on the shelf. So yes, Target is getting guys (including you and me, right?) to go check the shaving aisle from time to time, even though I am so bored by seeing the "all-Fusion all-the-time" marketing strategy currently in place there.

Now they want to hear? Bit late in the game, I think.

I only go into a Target when given a gift card. Their website is beyond intrusive. No navigation is possible unless you allow their trackers to follow your every click. In the store, the two-way mirrored offices watching over the checkouts are similarly irritating. It's the one store where I'd like to wear a disquise and pay cash.

kronos9 wrote:Now they want to hear? Bit late in the game, I think.

It's not really late for a large retail chain. Unlike online-only stores, they typically wait for a market to reach critical mass before jumping in. Given the scale on which they operate, it is understandable.

I only go into a Target when given a gift card. Their website is beyond intrusive. No navigation is possible unless you allow their trackers to follow your every click.

Nearly all e-commerce websites track your every move, along with a goodly number of websites in general. That's the way the cookie crumbles. Blur (www.abine.com) blocks many of the trackers. I have it installed in my browser and it works really well.

In the store, the two-way mirrored offices watching over the checkouts are similarly irritating. It's the one store where I'd like to wear a disquise and pay cash.

Ditto. I remember those in my uncle's grocery store 40 years ago. All the stores in the chain had the mirrored office windows, and many stores still do. They are looking for employees with their hands in the till and for shoplifters. It makes sense, as management wants to see their store at a glance and make sure everything is OK. Virtually all stores nowadays have video cameras all over the place to perform the same function, unless the store is both small and out in the middle of nowhere.

As someone who worked store security, that mirrored glass wasn't there for nefarious reasons, unless you were a shoplifter. There were time that we "gangs" of shoplifters come through. But I certainly understand the concerns.

Frankly, that bodes well that Target should be looking into this on any level. Just fantastic!

Rufus wrote:Hope they make a better go of it than they did in Canada.

Yep, I miss Zellers very much. Was way better than Target for sure.

Caffeinated Shaving Cream and After Shave from Pacific Shaving Co.

no decaffeinated option???? With all due respect, out of all the product available for sale, this dude buys coffee???? LMAO

fallingwickets wrote:no decaffeinated option????

That is probably why they want our input. Maybe Krampert's Finest shaving soap? Or at least the aftershave.

Coincidentally, I had also thought Krampert's Seifenglatt soap and matching aftershaves would be a good choice for them to stock.

I was in Target the other day and, thanks to this thread, had a closer look at the men's shaving section. Just beyond the revolving display of the Fusion with the spring on the orange rubber cylinder was the little section of potentially useable products. Cremo Cream was the one that caught my eye, as I know it can be used with a brush despite being sold as brushless. I enjoy buying my shaving products by picking them up in my actual hands and taking them to a checkout, so I might pick a tube up next time.

It would be nice to get some Personna Hospital Blades locally (if the price is right). Also would like to see the entire Pinaud line of shaving, skin and hair care products in one area. I'm sure we could come up with a list and a member could post the whole thing and overwhelm them.

Ouchmychin wrote:It would be nice to get some Personna Hospital Blades locally (if the price is right). Also would like to see the entire Pinaud line of shaving, skin and hair care products in one area. I'm sure we could come up with a list and a member could post the whole thing and overwhelm them.

Walgreen's used to carry the "comfort coated" Personna blades. To the best of my knowledge, these are the equivalent of the "med prep" hospital blades. Walgreen's discontinued them in favor Korean-manufactured Studio 365 blades. The Korean blades were so awful, my local Walgreen's discontinued selling double edge blades entirely shortly thereafter.
I forget the exact price, but do recall that it was reasonable for a brick-and-mortar store.

I think you ideal of a list is a good one. Why not have a series of polls to select a brush, razor, soap, cream and aftershave? The winners could then be presented on TargetShaving's Twitter page.

Nitrox wrote:

Rufus wrote:Hope they make a better go of it than they did in Canada.

Yep, I miss Zellers very much. Was way better than Target for sure.

I've been thinking the same thing as well. Kind of surprises me to hear Target is interested in another "niche" market ---- have to admit, as a Canadian, I have never considered us "niche" but I think that's how Target saw us ...... but that's another story for another day .....

They used to have some wetshaving products in their "spa" section -- I have seen Proraso green tubs and tubes quite some years ago in Target stores in the US and even the odd Tweezerman badger brush. The past 4 years or so I haven't seen anything beyond Williams and Wilkinson soaps, as well as some generic boar brushes.

Looking back to last year, I can't detect any significant changes in the men's shaving shelves at Target.

I have a feeling I cant really trust that out of site place for this being kosher...

the people who actually buy products for store sales, well have no idea of logic or actual interest. they simply go for glamour/unit cost/retail cost/rough profit per item.

VDH products are a really good profit item for them. the low cost and the high retail price means profit. Same with the pacific shave co caffeinated crap.

Tell 'em about your disappointment Gary, let's see what they have to say.

Im curious, does anyone truly expect them to say start stocking the woolfat in every target store just because 12 of us tell them too?