At the beginning, I bought too much for myself – not for my customers

When opening a shop for traditional wet shaving and being quite deep into the subject yourself, there is a problem:

You find a lot of products pretty good.

And that was exactly one of my mistakes at the beginning.

When selecting the product range, I sometimes looked too much for:

What do I like?

Which brand would I buy myself?

Which scent will end up in my bathroom?

At first, that sounds logical.

But it only makes sense to a certain extent.

Because eventually I had to realize:

My taste is not automatically my customers' taste.

At the beginning, you quickly buy for yourself

Especially with shaving soaps, this happens incredibly quickly.

You read a scent description.

Tobacco.

Leather.

Oud.

Citrus.

Dark woods.

And you think:

We must have that.

Then you discover the next brand.

And another.

The problem is only:

A shop is not a private collection.

Just because I find a scent great, it does not mean that enough other people will want to buy it.

I had to learn this separation at first.

Today I ask myself different questions

Of course, I still have to like a brand.

I do not want to sell anything where I myself do not understand why someone should spend money on it.

But by now, personal taste is no longer enough for me.

Today I ask, among other things:

Does the product really bring something new to the range?

Do we perhaps already have this scent three times?

Is there demand for the brand?

Is the price-performance ratio right?

Is the product reasonably available?

Can I reorder the product in the long term?

And of course:

Do you even want to have it?

That sounds trivial.

But this last question is probably more important than some hours-long range analysis.

More products do not automatically mean a better range

That was another realization.

A shop with 500 shaving soaps may look impressive.

But if 300 of them serve practically the same need, the selection eventually helps no one anymore.

That is exactly why I want to keep The Gentleman’s Shave consciously curated.

That does not mean that our range should remain small.

It can grow.

And it will grow.

But a new product should have a reason to be added.

A new scent.

An exciting brand.

A different soap base.

A good entry product.

Or something you keep asking for.

Simply just one more tin is not enough for me.

I would take some brands immediately – but I cannot

That is probably one of the most frustrating parts of range planning.

Especially in the USA, there are fantastic artisan manufacturers.

Strong scents.

Crazy ideas.

Brands that I would order immediately privately.

Only:

Buying privately and selling commercially in Germany are two completely different things.

Cosmetic products must meet certain requirements before they can be placed on the market in the EU.

These include, among others, a responsible person within the EU, a safety assessment and product documentation, a notification via the European CPNP system, as well as the required labeling.

If a small manufacturer in the USA is not properly set up for the European market, I cannot simply order their shaving soap and then put it on our shelf.

Even if I would like to have it.

And even if you would like to have it.

That is sometimes particularly annoying

Because as a shaving nerd, I naturally see products and think:

That would be perfect for our shop.

Maybe I even ordered the soap privately.

I smell it.

Use it.

Find it great.

And then it still only remains:

Use it privately.

Do not sell it.

But that too is part of the reality behind a specialized shop.

Not every decision is:

“Do I want the product?”

Sometimes it is simply:

“Can and can I even offer it properly?”

That is why I want to involve you more strongly in the range

My view on this has changed quite a bit by now.

I can research.

Write to manufacturers.

Read forums.

Go through social media.

And of course monitor sales figures.

But still, there is someone who can tell me quite directly what is missing from the range:

You.

Which brand are you looking for in Germany?

Which variety do you hardly get?

From which manufacturer would you like to see more?

Are you missing a certain scent world from us?

Or is there a brand where you say:

You absolutely have to look at that?

Of course, a wish does not automatically mean that the product will be in the shop next week.

Purchase price, availability, quality, demand, and legal requirements must still fit.

But I want to involve your wishes significantly more strongly in these decisions in the future.

My taste still remains a part of it

And it should.

The Gentleman’s Shave should not become a shop whose range is determined exclusively by spreadsheets.

I want to continue to discover products that I am excited about.

I want to try lesser-known brands.

And sometimes I will probably continue to order a soap where I simply think:

That is so good – we are trying that now.

The difference is:

Today I know that my enthusiasm can only be a part of the decision.

Not the entire decision.

My conclusion

One of the most important lessons in building The Gentleman’s Shave was quite simple for me:

A good range is not created by buying as much as possible of what I myself like.

It is created somewhere between:

my own conviction,

good products,

economically sensible decisions

and what you actually want to have.

That is where I want to get even better in the future.

And that is why I am really interested at the end:

Which brand is currently missing for you at The Gentleman’s Shave?

Not which ones we could theoretically still list.

But which ones you would really buy.