Creighton's Sells Real Shaving Company

[BeatlesFan]

Evidently Creighton's are selling off The Real Shaving Company. I'm not sure of the business transactional issues here, but it's an interesting bit of news in any case.

Creightons to sell The Real Shaving Company

Peterborough-based personal care products maker Creightons has proposed to sell The Real Shaving Company to cosmetics manufacturer Swallowfield.

The £1.17m deal is conditional on the approval of Creightons' shareholders and is expected to complete at the end of May 2015.

The Real Shaving Company, headquartered in Peterborough, recorded net sales of £800,000 in the year to 31 March 2015 along with underlying EBITDA of £300,000.

Swallowfield, based in Bideford, said the acquisition would give it a "presence in trade channels" that it was aiming to access.

Chris How, chief executive of Swallowfield, said: "We are delighted to acquire such a well-established and well-loved brand that will increase the branded element of our business, in line with our stated strategy.

"We look forward to bringing our industry leading innovation, both in packaging and formulation, to the Real Shaving brand, driving profitable growth in the future."
Quoted from: http://www.insidermedia.com/insider/cen ... any-brand/

[Rufust445]

Chris How, chief executive of Swallowfield, said: "We are delighted to acquire such a well-established and well-loved brand that will increase the branded element of our business, in line with our stated strategy.

"We look forward to bringing our industry leading innovation, both in packaging and formulation, to the Real Shaving brand, driving profitable growth in the future."
[/i] Quoted from: http://www.insidermedia.com/insider/cen ... any-brand/

This means they're going to change the formula and raise the price to boost their bottom line. Wonderful.

They should have asked Proctor & Gamble how such a strategy has been working for them since they bought Gillette.

Also explains why RSCo is no longer on the shelves at Rite Aid. Meanwhile, the Kroger store south of here and across the road from Rite Aid is having a sale
on the 11 oz bottle of KMF fragrance free. Shaved with some yesterday, and it works very nicely, thank you.

[Squire]

Accessing market share by buying a brand then keeping that market share are two different things.

[Rufus]

Not good news.

[Raze R. Blade]

Has anyone purchased Swallofield-manufactured Real Shaving Company products? If not, then we have no way of knowing if quality will decline or prices increase.

[Rufus]

Has anyone purchased Swallofield-manufactured Real Shaving Company products? If not, then we have no way of knowing if quality will decline or prices increase.

It's too early since the deal is not scheduled to be completed until the end of May.

[Raze R. Blade]

It's too early since the deal is not scheduled to be completed until the end of May.

Well, let's hope for the best. In the long run, it is not really worth losing any sleep over the matter. Other than petitioning the acquiring company not to change the formulation, there is little we can do. Given that forumites are generally very reluctant to venture outside their forum homes, I think it unlikely that will happen on a large scale. Even so, any feedback should have at least some impact.

As always, it is important to have alternatives. Given the rise of the traditional wetshaving industry, we now have these in great abundance. Our favorite cream, soap, blade, retailer, forum, aftershave, etc. might suddenly disappear. That is no big deal, as we will still have more than enough resources and products to guarantee a great shave every morning. Keeping things in perspective, we have no reason to pout. If Real Shaving Company maintains its quality, it is icing on that cake. Remember how folks went nonlinear after Creighton's reformulated the British high-end retailers' soaps and creams? Despite all the histrionics, the world did not end.

[brothers]

Actually the passing of the small group of old standard traditional classics is a catalyst for the future, certainly not a dead end. There were a few consumers who would rather petrify than adapt. No biggie for the other 99.9% of consumers. When those once popular products jump off the track, scores of new ones become readily available to fill the void. People are smart and life goes on. They fill the market with different names, fragrances, and ingredients. Supply and demand. Regarding the new owners, it's completely up to the new owners to manage their companies as they choose to survive or to die. Are they going to be a problem or a solution for the consumer? The consumers will select the solution while they and the entrepreneurs who meet their demands survive and thrive in the new world they create.

[Raze R. Blade]

There were a few consumers who would rather petrify than adapt. No biggie for the other 99.9% of consumers.

I think that is a very important observation indeed, and applies to a lot more than just wetshaving products. The entire wetshaving products industry is now at a tipping point. It is transforming from a hobby and niche interest into a booming industry. As this happens, the whole relationship between hobby forums, retailers, consumers and manufacturers is changing. My take is that this is a very good thing, as it ensures lasting and widespread product availability. The 0.01% might be convinced they speak for everybody, but it is the silent majority, the 99.9%, that a company has to please to be successful.

[TheMonk]

Oh well... there goes another great and cheap product!

[Ouchmychin]

The real loss is tradition. So many famous shaving products are no longer being made by the original maker and are just a familiar label. Whether we liked them or not is not important. Someone did and at least I knew which ones I preferred. The problem really was "progress". When shaving cream came in a pressure can and you didn't need a brush, I like many others hailed the progress. Same when cheap plastic throwaways came to the razor market. Used them for decades. Now here in the club I am a traditionalist and regret my decisions.

[Raze R. Blade]

The real loss is tradition. So many famous shaving products are no longer being made by the original maker and are just a familiar label. Whether we liked them or not is not important. Someone did and at least I knew which ones I preferred.

It was not all that long ago that the online wetshaving community was in a tizzy and bashing Creightons for reformulating the high-end British shaving creams. They were bemoaning the loss of quality and how Western Civilization was about to end. Of course, people are back to heaping praise on the hoity-toity British products. And why not? They are good, the reformulation did not spell the end of planet Earth. Just curious, but why all the histrionics (both now and back then)?

[Ouchmychin]

My reference was not to the original posters discussion. The same hold true for Old Spice, Aqua Velva, Old Spice Fresh Limes, Gillette, and more main line products. If you don't find any difference in the replacements, you're lucky. I think I do.