Schick Intuition

PRODUCT DESIGN | CONSUMER RESEARCH | BRAND EQUITY

“I have the older short thick handled Schick Intuition Sensitive Razor, the thinner longer handle is much easier to use and it stands up in the shower area.”

-User Review, Amazon.

SITUATION:

Schick’s Intuition Sensitive Care Women’s Razor had established itself as the first brand to create a simpler way to shave in an all-in-one razor when it launched in 2003. The original Schick Intuition Sensitive Care Women’s Razor embedded its razor head within a bar of soap, allowing consumers to lather and shave at the same time. The razor became the largest and most successful brand in the women’s razor category.

After years of market dominance, Schick approached Product Ventures to work on an additional option within their razor portfolio. This new SKU would build off of the brand equity of the Schick Intuition Razor and elevate the look of its design as a contemporary and premium brand while distinguishing it from rising competition within the category.

CHALLENGE:

The primary challenge for this project was one commonly faced by our clients — providing innovation while working within our client’s existing manufacturing capabilities. Specifically, the product design needed to fit the current razor cartridge and the assembly of the product needed to be achieved using a 2 shot molding process of rubber and plastic. These requirements ensured our client could implement the product design with low cost of goods impact.

Schick provided consumer research indicating buyers of the Schick Intuition Razor were happy with the existing product. When buyers, nonbuyers, and lapsed users were asked about potential innovations to the design, all three groups showed similar satisfaction with the existing product. The product was already popular and well-liked, so it was paramount for our team’s designs to build off of the satisfaction of the product without alienating existing customers. This data set informed our approach as we developed a modernization of the design to ensure continued brand equity and category dominance.

APPROACH:

Product Ventures performed an audit of women’s razor category and conducted in-house consumer research to evaluate competing products as well as assess the strengths of the Schick Intuition Razor brand. The category audit included direct evaluation of competing brands and products, but also an out-of-category ergonomic evaluation of products that provided precise control — a popular feature to the Schick Intuition Razor’s original design. Following these audits, our team proceeded with concept generation and prototyping of several designs to be evaluated through consumer research.

Our consumer research team went to great lengths to facilitate the true-to-life interaction consumers have with women’s personal care products. Our in-house consumer insights lab recreated the bathroom environment — including a mock shower/tub enclosure — to immerse participants in the context they typically use razor products. This involved talking to participants as they act out their usual routine while observing how they engage with the product in its typical environment. Achieving this immersion ensures reliable qualitative research to inform our design process.

Our participants were selected from the public and reported they were either loyal, light, or lapsed users of the Schick Intuition Razor. All three consumer types reported varying degrees of passion for the Schick Intuition Razor’s ergonomic strengths and expressed interest in a design that furthered the product’s ergonomic ability. They also expressed interest in better storage functionality due to the limited space available in shower spaces. Product Ventures’ industrial designers proposed an array of designs with different approaches to addressing these common points of interest for consumers.

The leading design received concept refinements and further prototyping before being finalized and returned to our client.

RESULT:

The Schick Intuition Sensitive Care Sleek-Handle Razor provides tapered rubber handle that provides a new sophisticated look while enhancing the product’s ergonomics for a comfortable hold and precise control. This redesign enhances the usability of the razor’s cap, by adding the functionality to act as a base to store the razor upright in otherwise space-restricted shower settings. These new design features build upon the essential all-in-one functionality of the Intuition Razor that lathers and shaves in one easy step.

The final design for this project successfully provided a design that strengthened brand equity, provided SKU differentiation, enhanced ergonomics, and satisfied loyal consumers.

Want to hear more specifics about our process for this project?