Offering a subscription box provides a reliable business financial model thanks to its monthly recurring revenue. It can be tailored to practically any market, from puzzles to beauty to pets.
But starting a subscription box business is a challenging endeavor that demands time, energy, and enthusiasm. You need to know a few essential steps that will help you to start and make it successful.
That’s why, In today’s article, I’ll share the steps to start a successful subscription box business. This article will help you learn the steps you need to know to extend your business.
I’ll also share a few subscription box business examples. So you can have a clear idea of what and how to offer.
Let’s jump into the examples of the subscription box business.
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What is a Subscription Box?
The term "subscription box" refers to a service that customers can sign up for to receive a set of products on a regular schedule (weekly, monthly, quarterly).
In much the same way as subscriptions to media have been steadily more popular over the past few years, subscriptions to physical items have also been slowly increasing.
Many businesses are offering subscription box services. Following are a few successful ones.
Examples of Successful Subscription Box Business
These examples will inspire you to start your subscription box business. Despite the niche, you can offer subscription boxes to your customers.
1. Green Chef
Green Chef is offering a weekly menu as a subscription box. They have a menu that updates every week.
They allow customers to select the meal from different categories, select the box size, log in, enter their address and payment details, and finally select the first day of subscription.
Customers can select how many meals they want per week, and they’ll be automatically charged weekly from their card.
It’s an excellent idea to offer meals in subscription boxes. They also offer a discount on the first purchase to attract more customers.
2. SouthernCigarCo
SouthernCigarCo offers cigars with a cigar cutter in the subscription box. They offer three different packages.
You can choose the package and cigar cutter and fill up the checkout and billing details to get your subscription box.
Customers can select a monthly subscription or any other available one. After the period, you’ll automatically get charged from the card that you have attached to their site.
They are excellently using the subscription box idea and earning an excellent monthly income.
3. ThreadBeast
It is a men's clothing subscription box business that sends a box once a month to its customers. It allows you to hand pick the clothes you want and send you the package.
You can set up your style profile so that you’ll get the boxes that you like. After setting up your profile, you’ll need to select the package and complete the checkout.
It’s an excellent idea to offer a clothing subscription box. Clothing is a huge market; you can make it as specific as you want.
Now you know a few box examples to get started. So without further ado, let’s jump into the list you should focus on while starting your subscription box business.
How to Start a Subscription Box Business?
Following is the step-by-step process to help you start a successful subscription box business.
1. Choose Subscription Box Idea
Any successful business starts with a good idea. You need to do a little research on choosing the niche, competition study, and customer profiling.
A niche is a product or service market like fitness, makeup, or food. CrossFit, Korean beauty, and international snacks are sub-niches of those mentioned above. More customized boxes make selecting products for a specific audience more accessible, maximizing customer retention and satisfaction.
After selecting the niche, you should study the customer interests and competitors. This will give you an idea of what others are offering and what you can do that the customers would love.
2. Subscription Box Pricing Consideration
After having an idea of the box, the next thing is to come up with reasonable pricing. Mispricing a subscription box is a common mistake. Both underpricing and overpricing will risk your business's viability.
Here are a few things to consider:
- What is your cost of goods?
- What price are customers willing to pay within your market? (research your competitor's pricing)
- How much value are you providing to your customers?
- Typically 1 to 2% is a good conversion rate per 100 visitors. With this in mind, how much will it cost you to pay for 100 clicks in Google ads, for example?
- What transaction fees do you have to pay if selling on a marketplace?
- Will you be offering free shipping?
- How much will you pay your staff?
Once you've considered all the above, you just need to ensure you have a good profit margin to allow you to build your business sustainably.
3. Setup a Website to Sell your Boxes
A website is essential to selling your boxes because, without a platform, you won’t be able to sell your boxes. I recommend having your website control your distribution and own your customer data.
To learn more, check out our guide on Launching an eCommerce Store with WooCommerce.
Once you have set up your store, you will need a plugin to charge recurring subscriptions. Any of these subscription management plugins will do.
In addition to selling on your site, you should consider listing your boxes on other online marketplaces like Cratejoy and Amazon.
All three are necessary, in my opinion. Because until you put effort into marketing, no one will ever find your website. A successful internet store begins with a concentrated effort on a few key areas.
4. Marketing Your Subscription Box
The last step is launching an advertising campaign to gather data on your intended audience quickly. With as little as $20 a day, you can put different strategies to the test.
It's important to note that the results of your advertising campaign might guide your search engine optimization and other forms of promotion.
Ad agencies are another option for advertising, especially if they have experience with box brands similar to yours. If your monthly budget is more than $ $5,000, hiring an advertising agency is a great way to get ahead quickly.
Other marketing ideas to consider:
- Reach out to influences and send your products to them for an honest review.
- Start building out your e-mail list. You can run a giveaway and ask for influences in your space to help promote the giveaway.
- Participate in communities where your audience typically congregates.
- Create profiles on a social media platform to organically promote your product.
Wrapping Up
I hope this guide will help you to start a successful subscription box business. I have tried to cover the essential points you should focus on to start the box business.
Discounts are another great way to attract customers. People love discounts. You can use the Dynamic Pricing & Discount Rules plugin to create almost any type of discount.
Thank you for reading till here!
