The online market for razorblades barely existed a few years ago, yet Americans have taken to it quickly: Web sales of men's shaving gear in the U.S. have nearly doubled in the 12 months through May to $263 million, according to estimates from Slice Intelligence, a market research firm.

That is about 8% of the roughly $3 billion market and a big surprise to people who follow the market.

"It's kind of incredible that happened all in a year," said Tim Barrett, analyst at Euromonitor International, a research firm.

The pace continues to quicken. In the first five months of 2015, online sales amounted to $141 million, more than double that a year ago, according to Slice.

The shift in shopping habits has caught market leader Gillette off balance. The brand's U.S. online sales are rising quickly, but rivals are growing faster.

The Procter & Gamble Co. unit commands more than 60% of the much bigger but contracting retail market. In the growing online market, it controls just a fifth of the pie.

The mismatch is forcing a number of adjustments at Gillette. Among them, Gillette is now trying to compete on value, a shift for a business that has long pulled in premium prices for its five-bladed cartridges and swivel-head razors.

The online leader is Dollar Shave Club. Three years ago the company was an untested startup with provocative videos in which CEO Michael Dubin said, "Our blades are f------ great." But it has built an audience for its monthly mailings of blades in plain cardboard envelopes with the promise that subscribers will save money over the leading brands.

It now has two million people paying anywhere from $1 to $9 for its blades at least every other month and is on track to generate $140 million in sales this year, according to Mr. Dubin, the company's 36-year-old founder. The closely held company is valued at $615 million after closing a new $75 million funding round, according to people familiar with the matter.

Other online sellers have sprouted up, including 800Razors LLC, Harry's Razor Co. and Shave Mob LLC, also touting lower-priced blades than Gillette's.

Their ambitions are being fueled by private-label makers of razors and blades that are finding a more fruitful marketplace online than in stores, where Gillette and Energizer's Schick brand dominate.

P&G has responded by ramping up promotion of its Gillette Shave Club's online subscription plans.

It claims men can spend significantly less on its razorblades—around $5 a month for its priciest Fusion ProGlide blades, compared with $9 a month for Dollar Shave's top plan, which includes shipments of four cartridges with six blades each.

But Gillette's math presumes users change cartridges only once a month, with an average of three to four shaves a week. Otherwise, its blades are a lot more expensive—around $5 apiece for its top of the line, five-bladed Fusion ProGlide compared with $2.25 for Dollar Shave Club's six-bladed Executive.

Rob Springer, a 37-year-old who works for a granite company in Atlanta, said he shaves three or four times a week and used to buy Gillette Fusion five-bladed cartridges before he signed up for a Dollar Shave Club subscription last October.

"The Gillette razors were wonderful, but the problem was that they were around $20 for a pack of four," he said, adding each blade lasted him only a week. "It's done in a week, no matter what brand I use," said Mr. Springer, who sports a beard and shaves his head and neck. He now pays $6 monthly for a set of four cartridges.

Winning online customers is increasingly important to Gillette. P&G predicts online razor sales will settle into an average annual growth rate of 25% over the next five years, said Sonia Fife, who oversees Gillette's business in North America.

"The growth has been very significant, and consumers' needs and habits are changing," she said.

It is also a very different world than the one Gillette conquered after being founded in 1901 and acquired by P&G in 2005. Inside stores, the advantage goes to companies that can afford prominent shelf displays and flashy packaging, and which have deep ties with retailers.

In that arena, Gillette has marketed its products on claims that they work better. P&G also has been trying to get retailers to unlock display cases where razorblades are kept. While the cartridges are prime targets of shoplifters, the locked cases are a turnoff for shoppers.

To compete online, it is effectively telling buyers not to change blades so often.

Energizer Holdings Inc., maker of Schick blades, has complained that Gillette's approach is hurting overall industry sales.

"One of the major manufacturers in this industry is talking about 'longevity communication,' both on-pack and in broadcast media, essentially telling consumers that they can use these products longer, which has had some effect on product use-up rates," Al Robertson, chief marketing officer for Energizer's personal-care division, said during a company presentation earlier this month.

In response, a Gillette spokeswoman said the company's view is that men should change their blades "whenever they're not getting a close and comfortable shave."

Sales from P&G's grooming business, which principally consists of Gillette, fell 3% for the nine months ended March to $5.75 billion. The decline was due to currency swings, even as Gillette benefited from higher selling prices and sales thanks to its launch last summer of a premium-priced razor handle with a swiveling ball hinge called the FlexBall.

The company said the new handle also helped sales of its priciest cartridges and increased Gillette's market share, which IRI data shows was largely at the expense of rival Schick.

But overall razor and blade sales have been declining in recent years as well, in part because of broader social trends like the greater acceptance of stubble and beards in the workplace. Sales in the U.S. fell to $2.96 billion in 2014 from $3.08 billion in 2012, according to market research firm IRI, whose data is based on sales in brick and mortar stores.

At least some of the decline is a result of shoppers migrating online, Energizer's Mr. Robertson told investors earlier this month.

Write to Serena Ng at serena.ng@wsj.com and Paul Ziobro at Paul.Ziobro@wsj.com

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