P&G Freshens Grooming Segment With Billie Acquisition

Procter & Gamble is buying Billie, a women’s shaving and personal-care business. Billie was first-to-market with the launch in 2018 of five-blade razors, shaving cream and body lotion that were specifically targeted toward women. The brand  — which has a shave-only-if-you-feel-like-it attitude — hit the market years after shaving start-ups for men, including Harry’s and Dollar Shave Club launched, and has attracted attention for its boundary-pushing advertising and campaign against the “pink tax” (the idea that women’s personal-care products routinely cost more than men’s). Earlier this year, Billie launched a campaign that featured pubic hair. In one of its early campaigns, Billie showed actual body hair being shaved with its razors — a far cry from the glossy-legged advertising of P&G’s Venus brand. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but P&G described the business as “a growing female body-care company.” P&G’s purchase of Billie comes as its existing grooming business — which includes Venus, Braun, Joy and Gillette — has struggled. On earnings calls, P&G executives frequently talk about societal trends, like men with beards, as a cause of the segment’s declining sales, but the business has also faced competition from companies that provide trendier and less expensive products, with the added benefit

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