The Americans only know how to make razor blades.
Hermann Göring
Field Marshall Erwin Rommel
We could do with some of those razor blades, Herr Reichsmarshall.
Razor Blades
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My doctor told me to go back to an old-fashioned single blade razor. He said scraping with multiple blades irritated my neck, the only area I shave these days. So I discovered that double-edge razors are no longer loss-leaders for selling blades, but I bought one anyway. Then I found out that the sharpest double-edge blades now come from Japan and are so cheap, they are practically free compared to American multi-blade cartridges. What does this mean? I ask you.
Brand power.
Sony survived the existential disaster that was the PS3 on the strength of brand loyalty.
Apple gets away with 300% profit margins off brand.
And the “big” razor blade companies long ago engineered their blades for maximum acceptable turnover rather than absolute quality.
That opened the door to the generics and the “Shave clubs”.
An object lesson there: brand power has limits.