Gillette
Featuring King Camp Gillette
King Camp Gillette spent years engineering a disposable-blade razor, and when it finally shipped in 1903 it barely sold. A few dozen handles moved in the first year. Then the company changed one thing about how it made money, and blade sales over the next decade exploded into one of the most copied structures in commercial history. Printers and ink, coffee pods, game consoles, app stores: all descend from what Gillette figured out.
For founders and operators, this is the case that forces a harder question than 'is the product good?' It sharpens how you think about pricing, lock-in, and where margin actually lives in a business. The surprise is that the durable thing customers buy may not be the thing that makes you rich. Read it before you set your next price.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Gillette razor-and-blades case study about?
The Gillette case is about business model innovation, not product quality. King Camp Gillette spent years engineering a disposable-blade razor, but when it shipped in 1903 it barely sold. Then the company changed how it made money, and blade sales exploded into one of the most copied structures in commercial history.
When did Gillette's razor launch and how well did it sell at first?
Gillette's disposable-blade razor shipped in 1903 and sold poorly at first, with only a few dozen handles moving in the first year. The breakthrough came when the company shifted where it made its money, and blade sales over the next decade took off. The razor-and-blades model was born from that shift.
Why is the Gillette razor-and-blades model so widely copied?
It is widely copied because it relocates profit from the durable item to the recurring consumable, creating lock-in and ongoing revenue. Printers and ink, coffee pods, game consoles, and app stores all descend from what Gillette figured out. The durable thing customers buy is often not the thing that makes you rich.
What can founders learn from the Gillette case?
The lesson is to ask where margin actually lives in your business, not just whether the product is good, and to use pricing and lock-in deliberately. The thing customers value most may not be where you should make your money. CaseBook turns this into a move you apply to your own company, with an AI coach that reads your answer.