Seth Godin today, in discussing store layouts, comments that:

Many retailers believe that they still have the power to inconvenience shoppers as a way of increasing revenue

which is, I would have thought, central to the thinking behind much ‘bad profit’ strategies, not just in retailing but in customer service in general, as well as design.

http://netpromoter.groupee.net/eve/forums/a/cfrm/f/9631073251

Earlier today, another blogger referenced a bad profit story in a blog entitled “How much money DO I have to have on deposit?” Here is that link:

http://loyaltyeconomics.blogspot.com/2007/07/how-much-money-do-i-have-to-have-on.html

As you say, the overkill with Fusion Power is fairly ridiculous. I remember a group of us laughing at this story on The Onion as design students, before seeing this just a year later.

I’m telling them to stick two more blades in there. I don’t care how. Make the blades so thin they’re invisible. Put some on the handle. I don’t care if they have to cram the fifth blade in perpendicular to the other four, just do it!

You’re taking the “safety” part of “safety razor” too literally, grandma. Cut the strings and soar. Let’s hit it. Let’s roll. This is our chance to make razor history. Let’s dream big. All you have to do is say that five blades can happen, and it will happen.

Nevertheless, Gillette hooked me into using the Mach 3 as a teenager by sending me a free one (not sure where they got my address from - electoral roll?), and they do the same with the Fusion (I’ve got a couple of them free by filling in subtly different address variants on their website). Yeah, they’re good, but a cheap yellow Bic seems almost as good, and it’s a lot cheaper.

I don’t remember the exact prices but the refills (pack of 6 blades) are about twice as costly as the razor, which comes with a blank and 4 blades on the back. The whole package is very similar to the Gillette one shown above[*] with the exception that the ASDA knock-offs go blunt in about two thirds the time. As they’re about half the price of Gillette equivalent the deal is still a good one.

ASDA seem to have random week-to-week and store-to-store pricing variations so your mileage may vary.

Final razor comment: In reality the “Sensor Excel” is probably about as good as any competent daily shaver needs. The “Fusion Power” product needs to be put on a plinth with some witty explanatory card reminding viewers that no one ever lost money from underestimating the intelligence of the general public.

[*] Geeks will want to know that the generic ASDA razors have a Sensor Excell type of look and feel (and blade mounting style) but have a Mach3 style triple blade with lube strip arrangement. I don’t know who they get to make them but superficially it doesn’t look like Wilkinson Sword or Gillette. They’re clearly not as good as “the leading brands” in terms of performance but have a nice price to performance ratio.