Thanks to digitalization the subscription box industry have grown massively in the last couple of years. This introduces new opportunities for entrepreneurs that were not available a decade ago. There are a few different reasons why people want to buy a subscription box.
First of all, it automates the purchasing process which saves customer’s time, and secondly, the subscription box experience brings excitement every time you see a package on your doorstep.
When it comes to opening a subscription box business, there are few things you need to consider before you start this journey.
Come Up With the Right Subscription Box Idea
Every new business starts with finding the right idea and the same things go for the subscription box business. Nowadays, there are hundreds of thousands of subscription boxes on the market and your job is to find a gap in the market and start a unique subscription box business.
There are few questions that you should ask yourself that will lead to the right idea.
What niche should I go for?
Choosing the right niche is crucial for subscription boxes. After all, people are purchasing subscription boxes just because they improve their overall experience around the niche they selected.
Who are my competitors?
After choosing your niche, your job should be to find out more about your competition. You should check out their prices and what they have to offer.
For example, if you want to start a tea subscription box you should research in websites such as FiveBoxes what is the best tea subscription box in 2021. By analyzing the competition you will know what you can imitate and what you can do different.
Who are my customers?
Well, this is probably the most important question, because the success of every subscription box lies in targeting the right customers.
Select Your Products and Price Your Box
After coming up with a winning idea, your job is to decide what to include in each subscription box. This is also an important step and where you can make or break your business. It is important to find a way to separate yourself from your competitors.
At this time you should also decide whether you want to manufacture your own products that will be included in the subscription box or get them from third-party vendors. If you are purchasing your products from another company, you should consider few things like prices, stock, and availability.
Pricing your box is also very important. Even though subscription boxes can go anywhere from $5 to $5,000, people often expect to get a better value on subscription boxes compared to retail stores.
As a rule of thumb, you should price your box with at least a 40% margin.
Build a Prototype Box
Your ideas might sound good on paper, but you should put them in the real world by creating a prototype box and find out how things go. Prototype boxes are also used to market your products to potential subscribers and build promotional material for your website.
Most companies even start shipping their prototype box just to see customer reactions and get feedback about which products they prefer.
Start Building Your Website
Now since you handled all things, it is time to make everything work. Building a functional website is crucial for the success of your business. Nowadays, you can start a website without having any coding experience thanks to platforms like WooCommerce and Shopify.
There are few things to consider when building your website, such as:
- Choosing the right payment gateway. – Enabling your website to receive payments from all credit cards and money transfer software is very important.
- Maintain mobile functionality – Most of your clients will come from mobile devices.
- Install inventory management software
- Start a newsletter signup
Final Words
These are all the steps that you need to take in order to launch a successful subscription box business. There isn’t a special recipe for success in this business.
The only thing that will separate you from your competitors is uniqueness and it will bring even more customers to your business.
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