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Startups of all kinds these days talk about filling a gap in the marketplace or respective industry. Quip, a young brand that set out to upgrade the electric toothbrush, is both filling a gap and, well, clearing gaps with its newest product.
If not for the simply named Quip Floss, flossing itself might never have looked this cool. More important, Quip’s latest proves as easy to use as those familiar, green floss sticks you can buy in packs of 90 at your local drugstore.
“As with the Quip Electric Toothbrush, we learned during the development of floss that the most impactful thing we could do was actually get people to do the behavior as often as dentists recommend,” says Quip founder and CEO Simon Enever. “So the primary goal with the design of our Quip Floss was to make people want to floss, and then once they are flossing, to help them do it the right way.”
The mint-flavored floss is housed in a sleek refillable canister (available in four shades and similar in appearance to Quip toothbrushes), dispensing string with the click of a button and cutting it off at the top of the dispenser. Weighing almost nothing and measuring about the same size as a pack of gum (or vape pen), users can easily toss the canister in a bag—so there go any excuses to your dentist about not having time to floss.
“In testing, we found that the time people most wanted to floss was actually when they were in public or at the office after eating—but most didn’t because so few people bring floss with them,” Enever says. “Another interesting insight was that when asked why they didn’t floss at home, a common answer was that they simply didn’t remember because, unlike toothpaste and toothbrushes, floss is often kept out of sight—and mind—in a drawer or cabinet.”
Since its launch in 2015, the Brooklyn-based company says it has sold several million brushes and has grown from an online-only subscription model for toothpaste and electric toothbrush replacement-head delivery to in-store placement at Target.
Quip has also waded into dental services with its acquisition of dental insurance company Afora in 2018. The startup’s first major purchase, the deal provided Quip with access to a network of more than 25,000 dental professionals nationwide. The company rounded out 2018 with $40 million more in venture capital.
“My long-term vision has always been to create products and services that allow Quip to become a complete oral care companion, guiding every aspect of your personal and professional oral care routine,” Enever says. “One of the biggest benefits of being a digitally native brand is that you have millions of members who are eager to work with you to help in developing products for them. One thing we learned when talking to them about flossing was that everyone has a very particular—and sometimes very polarizing—time and place they would prefer to be flossing. Our goal is to simply get every one of them to floss at least once per day, and we believe the design of the Quip refillable flosser helps both the at-home flossers and those who want to be doing it on the go after eating do exactly that.”
Quip Floss refills are automatically delivered on a three-month schedule, priced at $20 for the first filled canister and $5 per subsequent refill.
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