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How the Dollar Shave Club re-imagined market boundaries

By Gabor George Burt · 29 April 2025 · 1 min read

How the Dollar Shave Club re-imagined market boundaries

When it comes to change management and innovation strategy, companies don’t have to make the choice between jumping into something completely new or standing still.  Instead, you can adopt a more gradual approach, which I call ‘3 levels of blue waters’”

  • Blue Lake: Refresh & optimize your current value proposition
  • Blue Sea: Expand your current value proposition for broader relevance
  • Blue Ocean: Create new value proposition at the intersection of market spaces  

As an example, consider how the Dollar Shave Club re-imagined market boundaries on all 3 levels:

  • Blue Lake: Dollar Shave Club optimizes the razor purchase experience - 2012 (which any of the incumbent razor companies should and could have done)
  • Blue Sea: DSC expands into skincare - 2016
  • Blue Ocean: DSC launches online content hub for men – 2017

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