Picking the Perfect Products for your Subscription Box

August 15, 2017

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Procuring products for your subscription box is one of the most important steps to retaining current customers and growing your customer base.  Without products that appeal to your target audience, customers will not be interested in continuing their subscription.  When first starting your business, you might be unsure of how to get the best products for your boxes.  Here are a few tips to picking appropriate, and interesting, products for your subscription box.

Determine Your Target Audience

Before you can choose products for your box, you truly have to understand who is buying your subscriptions.  Your subscribers are expecting a certain type of product so meeting those expectations is imperative to maintaining your customers.  For example, if your audience is interested in high-end luxury items, every item you choose must reflect this.

Do Your Research

For inspiration as to what products to include in your boxes, visit a few brick and mortar stores in your market.  Look for new products, products with outstanding packaging, or products that have a wide appeal for your customer base.   You can also view blogs or social media pages in your market to see what products are up and coming.

Choose Products Wisely

Select products not only to interest your customers, but to appeal to their senses.  Products should be high-quality and have visual interest.  Make sure your products and their packaging are as engaging as possible.   This leaves the consumer with a sense of value for their subscription.   You should also offer your customers a variety of products, so they do not feel they are getting the same thing every month.  Products should work well together to create an entire experience for your customers.

Negotiate

Once you have chosen the products for your box, you need to start your communications with the vendors.  Don’t be afraid to negotiate with your vendors for a type of at-cost pricing or cost share agreement.   If their price is too high and you really want their product, let them know exactly how much you can spend by being transparent about your budget and how much you would really like to be able to include their product.

You are offering the vendor an opportunity to get in front of a very specific market so use that as a promotional value selling point.  If the vendor has multiple products that would fit your customer base, negotiate a multi-month deal for subscription boxes down the road.  When evaluating what to pay for a product, estimate what will be left after you package and ship the box.

Delivery

Once you have the products set for your box, open communication with your vendors about your delivery schedule.  For example, if your subscription box mails on the 30^th of the month, make sure you leave enough time to receive the product and to package it before boxing it up to ship out.   Ideally, you should have it in-house by the 15^th of the month to take account for any issues that might arise.

Selecting the right products for your box will ensure that your customers continue to subscribe, and word of mouth about how great the products are will drive growth in your subscriber base.