Another one bites the dust - Wickham's this time

[Mark1966]

See the story here.

OK, so maybe it is only temporary BUT it does reflect the inherent challenges of smaller artisan manufacturers.

Worried @stillshunter - maybe time to stock up like the blokes elsewhere, oh, that is right, you can't ...

Clearly the shavepocalypse is on its way ...

 

[Monsta_AU]

I think we are lucky that enough of a worldwide demand is there for these guys to make a bit of money making these products.

If one falls over, another will come in and take their place. In fact I would mention more people that have sprung up in the last 3 years than have gone away/ceased business.

Try, like, buy, use, enjoy. It will all be gone one day, thou art nothing but dust. If your favourite goes away, there’s plenty more to try.

 

[borked]

So the picture of what you actually did last summer in Europe is becoming clearer.
Stocked up upon a shipping container worth of MWF, Euro Palmolive and Wickhams.

 

[stillshunter]

What the....?
Glad I read a little more on the background before entering stage three - "bargaining" - of the classic Kübler-Ross five stages of grief.

 

[Mark1966]

I think we are lucky that enough of a worldwide demand is there for these guys to make a bit of money making these products.

If one falls over, another will come in and take their place. In fact I would mention more people that have sprung up in the last 3 years than have gone away/ceased business.

Try, like, buy, use, enjoy. It will all be gone one day, thou art nothing but dust. If your favourite goes away, there’s plenty more to try.

Yeah the Internet makes this business very viable nowadays I think but it is always that time between hobby -> business -> employer that is critical if it is to grow and survive long term that is the challenge.

 

[filobiblic]

Yeah the Internet makes this business very viable nowadays I think but it is always that time between hobby -> business -> employer that is critical if it is to grow and survive long term that is the challenge.

Also: word of mouth.
Currently it seems that social media is a big factor in the wet shaving community in whether you make or break as a business.

 

[Mark1966]

Also: word of mouth.
Currently it seems that social media is a big factor in the wet shaving community in whether you make or break as a business.

When you say 'social media' please tell me you are NOT including Twitter ...

 

[filobiblic]

When you say 'social media' please tell me you are NOT including Twitter ...

Hmmm, don't know about Twitter. Probably.
Facebook - definitely yes.
YouTube - yes, it's all the rage.
Instagram - Yep, SOTD photos galore.

 

[Mark1966]

Yes and Twitter is often fed off Instagram and cross platform tools so....

I just hate Twitter ....

 

[Nonick]

In the near Future All social media will merge into one massive mindless time thief called YouTwitFace

 

[eggbert]

I still don't understand how you "find" new soap manufacturers (or they find you) using social media.
Then again I don't go on about shaving on social media - my lasertag friends would think I was a nerd.

p.s. I have never played lasertag

 

[filobiblic]

I still don't understand how you "find" new soap manufacturers (or they find you) using social media.

They stalk you...

On Facebook you are part of wet shaving groups. A lot of the artisans are part of the group's and interact with people. Also, lots of new soap makers spring up from hobby to business (as @Mark1966 mentioned above), so they simply share about that. They also run promotions and freebies.

On YouTube it's more you watch videos by other shavers. They share about new products or what they are currently liking.

On Reddit there are wet shaving groups. Once again artisans are part of them like regular posters.

It's the whole word of mouth, what's new, viral sharing thing... Wet shaving is a niche group but there are more newcomers. A lot of those are younger guys who are used to the social media.

The two biggest issues I personally don't like about the social media is currency and consumption. They are two sides of the one coin; what's the latest is the greatest, which promotes spending. What's new is the best and that's what social media feeds off. Now it may be true that it is a great product. But sometimes it's just a newbie is raving about the product and who doesn't have the experience to compare against other products. There aren't really "reviews" (apart from some YouTube videos). So it's hard to tell in comparison. You have to rely on a few who you know have been shaving for a while and tried a lot of products. But they also don't want to knock their mate's products since they are all close mates. So all this promotes buying them all so you can find out whether it is great or not. Also, if a huge number of people promote or use a product, you think it must be great but that's not necessarily true.

 

[eggbert]

Ahh, that might explain it a little
I'm not so foolish as to subscribe to such facebook groups - not even P&C. The only groups I seem to be part of are local buy and sell ones that wifebert keeps sending me links from.

Reddit - used to sub wickededge which at the time was the only wet shaving subreddit I found - got way too repetitive for me and I hadn't been back there in years. For some reason once subreddits get popular I tend to unsubscribe as the chaff tends to outnumber the wheat.

I know that makes me sound even more like an old fart than I am, but it's not that I am averse to these changes, just tired of them.

 

[filobiblic]

It's moving too fast some times. It's ok if you drop in every now and then, but don't even think of trying to keep up. There are some who do, but they are very involved.

The three states I see are:
1) You have to be in deep
2) You are watching from a distance poking you head in now and then.
3) Moving towards one or the other. You either get more involved (and go further down the rabbit hole). Or you ease off the accelerator and retreat a little (or lot!).

 

[filobiblic]

Reddit - used to sub wickededge which at the time was the only wet shaving subreddit I found - got way too repetitive for me and I hadn't been back there in years. For some reason once subreddits get popular I tend to unsubscribe as the chaff tends to outnumber the wheat.

W_E used to be the only sub. But then early last year a few factions split off. One died early (a vendor created sub) but at least one more sub (wet_shavers) continues along merrily. The newer subs contain more variety of discussion as there are probably more experienced users than newbies.

 

[Mark1966]

What is reddit and why should I care?????

 

[eggbert]

The self acclaimed front page of the Internet.

It does what digg used to if you remember that.

Much of it is pretty much the highlights of the Internet that have been accumulated in one website and filtered into areas of interest.

Well that is what it used to be, now I rarely visit any of the busy subsections of the site these days as they let just about anyone on the Internet these days and that is where that type accumulate.

 

[Mark1966]

OK, moving right along then ....