subscriptionboxfeatureYou may have noticed an uptick in ‘subscription boxes’ the last couple years. My sister mentioned having a few beauty items to give me from her boxes (a gift subscription from her husband) while many health podcasts I listen to are constantly advertising for Naturebox, a hand-picked snack service. And you may wonder what’s going on.

Birchbox started the subscription box retail trend in 2010. Specializing in beauty, grooming and lifestyle products, subscribers pay a fee per month to receive goodies like skin rejuvenators, fragrances and makeup. Now Birchbox has 800,000 active global subscribers, translating to $96 million in annual sales.

The market has opened up wide for subscriptions, everything from clothing (Gwynniebee) to meals you can cook at home (Blue Apron).

Subscription boxes are curation.

Most subscription services have you fill out some kind of intake form when you first start. For example, with Naturebox, you can browse snacks by nutritional needs (12+ grams of protein per serving, gluten free) and/or by preference (non GMO, salty snack). You might pick some initial things you may like and the service might send you things based on your feedback over time (you liked this, you didn’t like that). In all cases, it involves interacting with the website, which tracks what you’ve had, what you’ve liked, and what you’d like in the future.

Subscription boxes surprise and delight. 

You know that feeling when someone recommends you a great book and then you read it and think ‘Yes, that WAS great’?

It’s hard to make that happen on a regular basis (unless you have friends who are constantly interesting like I have). 🙂 But in the case of these services, you get tipped off to something new and off your radar that you love. Seth Godin talks a lot about surprise and delighting people being effective marketing and this is probably what keeps people not only subscribed to subscription services but looking for more. (That’s a link to Canadian Subscription Box Addict, though there seem to be plenty of blogs in this vein!)

Subscription boxes are something to look forward to in the mail. 

Like most adults, mail I get typically involves bills or people asking me for money. Whenever I see either 1) a box or 2) a handwritten envelope, my heart quickens with happy anticipation.

Having a subscription box service is like having your mom send you care packages again, you know, without annoying her to do it. As adults, there is something exciting about getting fun mail, and having no idea what’s in it. And since the subscriptions come at regular intervals, we know the exact date we can look forward to.

So what does this have to do with your business/non-profit? More than you think. Let’s do two very fake case studies taking what we’ve learned about the success of these services and apply them to a non-profit and for-profit situation.



Animal Shelter (No, I’m not saying you send pets in the mail!)
How about having a subscription service people can buy for a dog in your shelter, maybe $20-$30/month. Maybe some of that money would be used to buy the dog a new toy every month and the person’s monthly gift would be a card with a picture of the dog and the toy together. This does two things 1) create a regular income stream for the shelter and 2) a regular base of engaged people who support the shelter and are receiving regular updates from it. So while everyone else is begging for money in a form letter, you are doing something different and treating the dogs under your care with something special at the same time!

Convenience Store (inspired by this amazing video for local Gott’s Convenience store)
I know many of you don’t live in my area but the convenience store (ie where you get EVERYTHING) is legendary (watched the linked video above and see what you mean). But what are you to do if you’re a convenience store with far flung fans? Why not send them subscription boxes? I would pay $20/month if I knew Ouellette’s Variety (no relation to me that I know of) in Caribou would send me their pull apart bread and the best chocolate peanut butter rice krispie squares ever on a regular basis. They could even throw some fudge and a random movie in there and it would be amazing!

Is it worth the hassle? Only you know your profit margins and the price point that makes the hassle of interacting with customers about what they like and putting something in a box on a regular basis worth it to you… but you can totally take this trend and make it work for you:

  • Seed with some items you aren’t restocking but would delight your customer
  • Make available perennial favorites you regularly make money on to far flung but loyal customers
  • Beta test new products you are thinking of carrying
  • Keep track of customer preferences/likes on your website (for their benefit and yours)
  • Send regular emails with helpful (and exclusive) tips, information, and events
  • Let your customers find items they want and spread the cost (and joy of getting them) throughout the course of the year
  • If the idea of doing this for tons of people makes you want to cry, make it an exclusive program for your best customers and limit the signups.

At Breaking Even, we’ve subscribed to Naturebox (I know, the things we do for market research!) and are planning on offering something fun like this for our most enthusiastic and loyal customers… and hope this blog post has inspired you to think in a similar way of this successful and widespread retail trend.

 

 

 

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