There has been a 100% increase in Subscription Gifting boxes over the past five years. The days of only subscription beauty bloggers have ended, now inclusive for many other industries from the risque to the everyday. A Subscription Gifting box often provides customers unique products tailored to a particular theme or interest. It introduces consumers to new brands and acts as a new gift every month. But subscription box services are no longer purchased only for oneself. A whole subset of the subscription and continuity industry is tailored specifically made to be a gift to be purchased for someone else. This style is perfect for B2B and B2C avenues targeted to birthdays, holidays, or general thank you’s.
A subscription gift box can provide a stable form of monthly income if you fill a need in your specific niche. Before beginning your continuity box business, knowing what to expect along your journey would be best. Creating viable ideas, pricing, and payment processing will all be hurdles to overcome in the unique industry of subscription gifting.
Step 1 – Come Up With a Subscription Gifting Box Idea
Starting a subscription box service comes with its share of risk. Most gift subscription services fail because they don’t have a niche and customer in mind.
So, what’s a niche?
This is a group of products, services, or interests that appeal to a small portion of the population. The market needs to be satisfied by this product or service reflected in its price, quality, and demographics.
The core foundation of your business is coming up with an idea, and in this case, specificity is your friend. Fulfill a niche market with your subscription box as much as possible by sizing up the current market. This involves conducting competitive analyses and creating a customer profile for your service. Customer retention and experience are heightened when their specific needs are met.
Think about your competitors.
The subscription gift box industry is popular, but that doesn’t mean there’s a need or demand for your products. When researching your competitors, keep these things in mind.
- What products are they offering?
- How much does it cost?
- How can you stand out?
Get to know your customer.
Be as specific as you can. This will allow you to compile items and market more effectively once your business gets going.
- How old are they?
- Where do they shop?
- What are their hobbies and interests?
- What social media platforms do they use?
Refer to your answers often and refine them as needed.
Step 2 – Determine Your Timing
Because this subscription service is intended as a gift for someone else, most boxes of this type have a predetermined end date at the time of signup.
In B2C transactions of this type, gifting often surrounds a life event such as a graduation, wedding, or pregnancy. New mothers will initially need an endless supply of diapers, baby clothes, toys, etc., but the need lessens as the baby grows up.
B2B Subscription Gifting tend to include coffee of the month clubs, fruit baskets, or gift cards. These items must have a wider appeal but should stay consistent every month. Sometimes, these subscriptions are intended to stay constant, while others aren’t. It may be important to give your customers the option to choose a limit if they desire to.
Creating a tiered structure is another way to give your customers the control they want. More expensive tiers can provide more items, higher quality, or more frequent gifting for the bigger spenders. This structure is inclusive of all types of client needs and is becoming the norm in the subscription industry as a whole.
Step 3 – Price Your Subscription Gifting Box
Now it’s time to price your product. One of the biggest mistakes is pricing your subscription box incorrectly. Prices too low or too high can threaten the sustainability of your business.
The costs to consider for your subscription gifting box include customer acquisition, the box and items inside of it, fulfillment, packaging materials, platform hosting, postage or shipping, and payment processing fees. Once this is all calculated, setting your profit margin at around 40% is the industry standard for subscription services.
Step 4 – Create a Prototype Gifting Box
How your items are packaged in the gift box is nearly as important as the items inside of it. Nowadays, the experience of the customer is key to continued success. Select the right size, look, and feel for the box with your end customer’s needs in mind.
- Is it small or large?
- Custom boxes or samples?
- Top-open or side-open?
From there, consider what goes inside to display and protect your shipped and received items. This goes beyond just visual appearance, once again consider your audience and how they experience and perceive the packaging materials.
- Tissue, crinkle, or a custom paper?
- Bubble wrap or sturdy padding for delicate items?
- What color, material, and texture fit your brand?
Now, add your items and arrange them nicely so that the first thing your customer sees when opening their box is appealing. Take photos and videos of the unboxing experience to place on your website and social media accounts. This creates an expectation that the buyer knows exactly what their colleague, family member, or friend will receive.
Step 5 – Create Your Website to Accept Credit Cards
Building a website is intimidating, especially if you’re not tech-savvy. Fortunately, plenty of free e-commerce platforms come equipped with code-free templates to get you started. Some include features such as analytics, referral campaigns, a sales-ready marketplace, a subscriber CRM, and a website designer.
Once you choose your platform, it’s time to set up your subscription payment gateway to accept recurring payments from your subscribers. Being a subscription service means that you come with inherent risk to your acquiring bank. High rates of fraud and chargebacks place you in the hard-to-place category, which requires better underwriting and more time till approval. Finding a credit card merchant account provider equipped to handle recurring payments, chargeback protection, flexible underwriting procedures, and seamless software integrations will prove invaluable.
Begin by researching payment processors with the infrastructure to support the high volume of subscription box businesses. Also, become familiar with supporters of the continuity industry, such as SUBTA and Cratejoy, for who they might recommend in the credit card processing space. Then be sure that your processor is adept at high-risk merchant accounts. High-risk and hard-to-place credit card processors are built on fulfilling the needs of accounts in the subscription industry because they know that extra care and monitoring is required to ensure their success.
Step 6 – Grow and Scale Your Business
Now is the time to go forth and thrive. Remember to keep your customer in mind to provide the products and options that fit their needs.
