How would you go about starting a subscription box service?

[Emma]

I love these and I love that there are so many these days. I have a few myself related to art supplies and collectibles. I had an idea of starting budget friendly ones for people who can't afford to spend a lot on these things. Maybe doing a budget one for arts and crafts and then one for pets. I just don't know how to go about starting one of how much it would cost up front. 

[Kuro]

The first thing would be to calculate your finance including costs, revenue, how much you'd price a box, shipping etc. Then you would need to develop the website and subscription model and start marketing. 

Obviously not as simple but that would be a starting point

[James]

Well you are going to need a commerce platform to operate off of and a subscription plugin for that commerce platform unless you go with a subscription box platform that is already made. 

If you are able to come up with about a years worth of box ideas and find a way to make profit it is likely worth pursuing. Any subscription based model business is one I love to build because of the predictable revenue and events that take place. 

I would start with basic market research to figure out what the competition is doing and see if where you can add value so you can compete but not have to compete on price. 

I know my wife who is a huge user of her Cricket would likely love a box of new projects every month to keep her growing her skills and finding new ways to have fun with her machine. 

There is always an angle if you have a problem you are solving for someone. 

[Mila]

I am curious about this myself. Can you just buy items and include them for resale or do you have to get permission if they are branded items? I would imagine there are legal things that need to be worked out unless you by unbranded items. 

[James]

21 hours ago, Mila said:

I am curious about this myself. Can you just buy items and include them for resale or do you have to get permission if they are branded items? I would imagine there are legal things that need to be worked out unless you by unbranded items. 

You are able to sell things that you buy. It's your box you decide what you put in it. 

Now I will say it would be better to make deals with the vendors of the products you are throwing in the box. Since you are providing them with a marketing benefit they may see that value and give you a great discount or maybe even include product for free. 

[Yonder]

Actually there is a Shopify plugin for a subscription based service, should prevent the large overhead for setting up a site (But will cost a monthly overhead)

[Mila]

On 6/15/2021 at 3:22 PM, James said:

You are able to sell things that you buy. It's your box you decide what you put in it. 

Now I will say it would be better to make deals with the vendors of the products you are throwing in the box. Since you are providing them with a marketing benefit they may see that value and give you a great discount or maybe even include product for free. 

So if I bought items in bulk, even branded items, I can use them in a box that is my own and profit from it because I purchased the product? I didn't know you could actually do this! I had thought that legally, you can't resell an item like this. 

[James]

1 hour ago, Mila said:

So if I bought items in bulk, even branded items, I can use them in a box that is my own and profit from it because I purchased the product? I didn't know you could actually do this! I had thought that legally, you can't resell an item like this. 

Yes you can. We do it at our smoke shop all the time. We buy things from Costco and resell them by the can, tin, or pack. 

You are right some products are marked not for individual resale. I would not go with a product that has that on the label. 

Most of the time when you are buying in bulk you will be buying from a distributor or direct from the manufacture and all they care about is making a sale and you selling through so you can come back and buy more. 

Once your box has enough subscribers I would likely stop buying the products and reaching out to companies and selling them "marketing" packages to get their products in front of your customers.  

[Carson]

I imagine that starting a subscription box service isn't easy. But it can be done. And sure, you could probably just toss stuff in a box and call it a day. And like James said, working with vendors might be more ideal. Because you at least you are saving some money in the process.