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Subscription boxes are recurring delivery boxes that provide sample sizes of specific niche items sent out monthly.
Subscription boxes popularity has been rising since it was first introduced in the early 2000s. The first known subscription box called The Sampler started out in 2004 where it included different sample products from independent web-based artists. Now, there are monthly subscription boxes almost everywhere and for almost anything. It is a great marketing strategy considering many of the companies that offer subscription boxes are of niche and novelty items. There is a rapid growth to the popularity of subscription boxes and many people actually appreciate this. But why do people like subscription boxes so much? What do these recurring delivery boxes of items have that makes it a very enticing purchase for consumers?
Subscription boxes for women, men and kids are recurring delivery boxes that provide sample sizes of specific niche items sent out monthly. This follows the subscription business model of ecommerce where consumers pay a recurring amount for a certain service or product. In this case, subscription boxes are being paid for monthly by consumers. In recent years the growing popularity of this business model has been increasing quite a lot and in 2018 alone 3,500 companies started using the subscription box model to market out their goods which is a whopping 40% increase from the year before. Traditional retailers like Target and Walmart even have their own subscription box of beauty items. Amazon has 18 different subscription box types available for their consumers, too.
One of the pioneering subscription boxes in the US called Birchbox started it all and spurred on the different types of subscription boxes we see today. There are boxes for almost anything that you can think of from makeup for women, dog toys or pet goodies, Japanese sweets and treats, arts and crafts items, lifestyle products, baby stuff and the list goes on. You can pretty much think of anything right now and it will most likely have a subscription box of its own.
Easier choices
There are so many choices of items to choose from the shelves today and having too many choices may not be the best thing. This can be quite overwhelming and consumers can get stuck with choosing what they want to buy which would then leave potential buyers feeling dissatisfied and end up not buying anything at all. Subscription boxes eliminate this aspect of indecisiveness because all the items are catered specifically to what one needs. The customer’s personal preferences are king as the consumers themselves are allowed to customize accordingly and receive what they think they need best without actually racking their brains for choices to do so.
Availability of Niche Items
People like purchasing subscription boxes because it taps into their specific wants and needs. As stated, you can quite literally think of anything under the sun that you can buy a subscription box of today. Niche items may even only be available under subscription boxes. Know a friend who has been looking for kooky items to fulfill their science fiction dreams? There are tons of subscription box choices for that. There are even subscription boxes filled with puzzles, skeletons and even your own little fairy.
Since subscription boxes offer the chance to try items out before buying them full sized it actually takes out the fear of consumers to commit to an item. There is a motivation to buy these items and it mostly boils down to the rush the customers feel when they first unbox their goodies. It’s a roller coaster of emotions for a buyer and because these items are more likely to not be found anywhere else there’s a sense of novelty to them.
The Ability to Try Out Things Regularly
People like the idea of subscription boxes mainly because of the fact that these items come out regularly. There are three things that are key to a successful subscription box and these are the product selection, quality, and value for money. Without these three, subscription boxes are more likely doomed to fail and considering around 13% of new subscription boxes that have come out in recent years have stopped entirely it is no wonder that a customer’s preferences are important factors to note when creating a subscription box. Consumers actually like testing things out and when they know the quality of the things that come regularly in their boxes are great then they are most likely to keep their subscriptions. Plus the feeling of unboxing something new every month brings out excitement no other thing can bring.
Packaging Design
The popularity of subscription boxes don’t only lie on the fact that the products are great for that specific consumer but also because of its packaging design. Many people actually buy products because of good looking packaging design. Seven in ten people prefer one product over another because of packaging because visual appeal is the first thing people notice. Choosing the right packaging for your product can quite literally make or break the success of your item.
Supporting Local and Tasting International
Lastly, subscription boxes are a great way to support local goods, too. There are subscription boxes that help out local artists that share their art through these boxes. Local goodies that you can’t find anywhere else are also made available through carefully curated boxes. Subscription boxes also help you taste what other parts of the world has to offer. There are tons of international meal kits that you can buy through subscription boxes. You can either choose a specific country or decide on a box that lets you try out snacks from all over the world.
