How to start a subscription box?

The subscription box market is growing day by day and has already conquered millions of people. With supply and demand growing exponentially, this is THE market trend to follow in 2023.

After having supported more than 300 projects, Ciklik, the platform for subscription models, gives you its advice to create your own subscription box.

Table of contents

The subscription-based box business

They contain beauty products, bottles of wine, cheese or books. On the US market, there are a lot of boxes offered for sale and each one finds its own buyers.

Users are falling in love with the concept that has been spreading like wildfire since 2010. So much so that the consumption of subscription boxes is one of the strongest trends in the market. A growth that is not about to stop, since the number of monthly subscribers to the boxes continues to increase.r.

So, if you’re interested in the idea, why not start your own subscription box? Follow these steps, and start your subscription box business.

Step 1 – Define your Box idea

The first step to launching a box is to have an idea. Choosing a theme can be more complicated than it sounds, and involves taking several factors into account. Find out how to go about choosing a theme for your box.

Scout out the boxes on the market

To help you in your choice, the first thing you can do is to observe the competition. Look around on the internet, and note the different categories of boxes that are offered. Delicatessen, products for kids, gourmet baskets, organic beauty boxes, etc. Be curious, this is the moment to gather information, to note the habits, the behavior of the subscribers and to become familiar with the very specific universe of the subscription ecommerce.

Don’t just focus on the big competitors, there are thousands of boxes in the US, and it’s up to you to do an exhaustive search. In 2016, more than 55% of the boxes offered were about sending beauty products. Today, the market is much more diversified. Analyze the proposals made by your competitors to gather as much information as possible and ask yourself as a subscriber on a specific theme, what would I expect as a customer and why?

The interest of this competitive intelligence is to propose a new and original box, to make buyers want to subscribe to your box rather than another.

Specify your box idea

Whether it’s tights, cheeses or organic teas, you finally have an idea of what you want to offer in your box. It doesn’t matter where your idea comes from, if it comes from a passion or from an advanced research on the subscription box market, now it’s a matter of targeting the exact theme.

Your competitive analysis has normally helped you to see more clearly the subscription ecommerce market. Once this is done, your goal is to choose a specific idea. You need to define your market positioning and what will differentiate you from other offerings. If your idea is still a bit vague, this step is crucial to refine your proposal. What are the values of your project, its characteristics, and most importantly, how does it set you apart from others?

Box buyers are sensitive to the concept and the added value in their choice of a subscription box. Don’t neglect the differentiating elements of your business, which will become your selling points and help you convert your visitors into subscribers.

If you want to stand out quickly, it is better to choose a niche market rather than a general box. You may reach fewer buyers, but those you target will be really interested in your box.

For example, instead of offering a box of socks, you can offer a box of socks made in the US. The specificity of your box plays an active role in its added value and can make all the difference for your buyers.

Target your audience

By the way, who are your buyers? The next step in validating a theme is to identify your ideal buyers, also called buyer personas. Gather as much information as possible about your target audience: 

  • Age range
  • Geolocation
  • Gender
  • Buying habits
  • Personal issues

The more comprehensive your buyer personas, the better you can identify your audience. And the advantage of knowing who you’re talking to is that you can tailor your offers!

Whether it is for the format of the box, the products offered or the tone used on your website, adapt your product to your buyers to ensure the viability of your box. Don’t hesitate to put yourself in the subscriber’s shoes to better understand their needs, and prioritize what they are looking for in a box on the theme you have chosen.

Conduct a market research

Once you know your target, the question remains, is your offer viable in the marketplace? In other words, are there buyers interested in your idea?

It’s time to bring your idea to life. Don’t keep it jealously to yourself and don’t be afraid of having your concept “stolen”, because remember that an idea in a closet is worthless. Don’t forget that there is a good chance that other people have had the same idea as you. It’s time to talk about it, and as much as possible. Every opportunity is good to gather feedback, analyze the perception of your idea and the interest it arouses. In short, take the time to conduct market research for your subscription box.

If you have chosen a box that is not offered or is badly offered by your competitors, take the time you need. Having an original idea is good, but to succeed in your entry into the market, you must make sure that it will appeal to your customers.

How do you do it? You have a whole range of solutions at your disposal:

  • Recover email addresses for cold emailing
  • Send questionnaires to collect the opinions of your future customers
  • You can use social networks to start creating your image and make polls, especially in Instagram stories, users love to interact! The loyalty through social networks starts even before the launch of your box.

Speak to your target buyers and get them on board. Internet users love to feel involved in a project and have the opportunity to express themselves, share their opinions and be heard. You’ll be starting to build a community that you’ll need to nurture.

End of step 1:

  • You now have a well defined idea
  • You know your target audience
  • You know that your offer will meet a demand thanks to the feedback collected

Action: I can clearly present my idea and convince my target in 3 minutes!

Congratulations, you can move on to the next step in creating your box: create your first box.

Step 2 – Create your first box

You thought the box market was simpler? It is a very competitive sector. Any entry into a business requires preparation, from marketing to packaging to logistics, you must anticipate and prepare your business plan.

Format of your box

One of the particularities of the box business is that you have to include the delivery from the beginning in your business model. Indeed, you only have one chance to make a good first impression. And this first impression, your customers will have it when they discover your box in their mailbox.

You must therefore think about the packaging, i.e. the format and size of your box as it will be delivered to your subscribers. A small cardboard box? A rigid envelope?

As far as possible, try to make packages adapted to standard mailboxes, to avoid that your carrier needs to ring your customers’ doorbells for each delivery. The size of your box will also depend on the products you have selected.

Practical tip

Regardless of the nature of your products, be careful of over-packaging. Customers hate it and the company’s image is sure to suffer. Pack enough to protect your products during transport, but no more than necessary. And if you’re creative, consider recycling or giving your box a second life, depending on the material used or the design brought in (for example, your box can become a storage space, a jewelry box, etc.).

Each rendezvous of a subscriber with his box should be a moment of surprise with the discovery of new products. All this with a quick perception of the added value of your offer.

This positive experience can come from a whole set of essential details:

  • Quality of the products
  • Their originality
  • The care taken in the design of your box
  • The care taken into your subscribers based on their preferences

We tend to say that the devil is in the details, but we must not neglect the main lines: the presentation of the products, their packaging and the personalization of the boxes. They directly reflect the perceived image of your company and your professionalism.

Create the exterior design of your box

Once you have selected the format, you need to think about the aesthetics. A colorful and bright box like the one from Barkbox? A simple and sober cardboard envelope like the one from KiwiCo? Or maybe a sober box or one decorated according to the seasons, like My Little Box?

The exterior design of your box is an integral part of your company’s identity. It’s the second thing your customers will see, everything starts from there.

If you have the means, you can call on designers to draw the models of your box.

For the beginning of your subscription box, it can be interesting to go through custom packaging design services like Packhelp to create your own original box design.

What products will you put in your box?

While the outward appearance is important, it is less important than the contents of your box for your subscriber. Take the time to determine what products you’re going to put in your box, whether it’s monthly or weekly.

Don’t forget that the customer experience is at the heart of your box business success. Put yourself in your customers’ shoes, what would you like to receive if you were a subscriber to your own box?

Then comes the dreaded sourcing stage, or how to build a long-lasting relationship with brands that are partners in your project. Put on your sales hat and don’t be afraid to contact the brands that meet the values of your project and with which you want to negotiate.

Before contacting brands, put yourself in their shoes:

  • What can you bring to them?
  • How do you address one of their issues?
  • How are you legitimate to contact them and consider a partnership?

With the previous steps, you have partly answered these questions because you have a fine knowledge of the market. In addition, you are addressing a target of qualified subscribers, from whom you will be able to collect precise opinions for the brands. If you are successful in your activity, you may be able to bring visibility to some little known brands.

Once you enter into a negotiation phase with brands, give priority to grouped orders! That’s what the subscription box model is all about. Instead of wasting time and money ordering in small quantities, you make orders in batches and establish a long-term contract with your partner, to lower the processing costs per box.

Ordering in bulk has a double interest:

  • For the consumer who makes a discovery at a lower cost
  • For you who have a more comfortable financial margin

When negotiating with your suppliers, focus again on the target people of your box and their profile. This is the opportunity to be a force of proposal, by indicating to the brands that you can propose promotional codes in your boxes through a flyer or your booklet. Finally, underline the seriousness of your approach and your wish to establish a long-lasting partnership with the brands, the idea being to work on the long term with them.

Some brands may offer you free products. This is a boon for your margin, but always ask yourself if free products will not deteriorate the quality of your box and its perceived value.

Finding products can be a real headache, especially when you have to vary the pleasures from one month to another. If you are out of inspiration, you can always look at what the competition is doing and get inspiration from them but be careful with plagiarism, your box must always remain unique.

Do you need a helping hand? Ciklik has written a list of 9 useful tips to know where to look for products for your box.

End of step 2:

  • You have chosen the packaging for your box
  • You have created a design for the aesthetics of your box
  • You have selected the products
  • You have identified the brands with which you could establish long-term partnerships

Action: I put together a first box with the products, until I get the “Wahou” effect.

You are ready for step 3: communication about the launch of your box.

Step 3 – Validate your box project

Now that you have precisely drawn the outlines of your project, you must analyze the expenses of your box, define the price of your subscriptions and organize your activity.

What will be the price of your box?

A key step, just as important as the others to ensure the sustainability of your box business, is to define the price of your box subscription.

A subscription that is too expensive will not attract customers. On the contrary, a price that is too low will not allow you to break even. It’s all a question of finding the right financial balance to find the right price. You can ask your community and refine your offer to better understand the perceived value of your boxes.

One of the most effective ways to set your prices is to have multiple subscriptions. For example, one subscription that costs no more than $19.90 per month and another that costs less than $29.90. With two different offers, you have a better chance of expanding your audience.

You can also offer different subscription cycles, such as a monthly subscription and a 3-month subscription, where the cost per month is more interesting for the subscriber who will choose to pay in one go for his 3 boxes for the next 3 months. This “long” subscription format is also a way to strengthen your cash flow with pre-paid boxes for 3 months.

And don’t forget, differentiating yourself from your competitors can have a big impact on the price of your subscription box.

But where do you start to determine the perfect price?

In order not to make a mistake when defining the ideal price for your box, you can start by creating a realistic general budget, which takes into account the cost of your product, but also the acquisition and management costs.

Organize your logistics

The penultimate step in planning your business plan is logistics. Running a business that involves the delivery of goods to the customer’s home involves logistical issues that need to be addressed.

The objective at the beginning of your activity is not to take too many financial risks. We therefore advise you to take care of your own logistics, at least for the first few shipments of boxes.

Study the different possible carriers and the associated delivery costs. We are not going to lie to you, at the beginning the delivery costs represent a big expense. With a larger number of subscribers, you will be able to obtain preferential rates and adjust your costs.

Before calling on a logistician, we recommend that you reach a certain threshold of subscribers, which on average is around 300 subscribers, for a box costing around $25. Of course, this threshold remains variable according to the nature and the dimension of each project.

In the same way, the choice of a logistician is specific to each project owner because it will be made according to the products offered in the box, the care expected in the packaging and the box making. For example, if you want to add a silk paper in your box, can your logistic partners manage it? If your products must respect the cold chain, are they equipped accordingly? If you don’t want to offer delivery tracking, does your logistics provider have an eco parcel contract?

While waiting to reach your 300 subscribers, you can try to work with the private parcel carrier who will offer you a sufficient complementary service at an affordable price.

Provide an after-sales service

Indeed, in the subscription box business, the customer experience is at the heart of success. But this customer experience is not limited to ordering and receiving the boxes, it goes even further with the management of the customer relationship.

A breakage during transport, a package that never arrived, a particular allergy that was not taken into account, you risk encountering customer issues that require the return of a box, or the refund of the subscription. It is therefore necessary to ensure your back and plan actions to be implemented according to the different after-sales scenarios that may arise.

First, when choosing your carrier, make sure that it has a customer service policy that is useful for your business. Some customer returns may be covered by the carrier’s insurance, so choose wisely from the start.

Anticipate the logistics essentials as much as possible, to cover your back and ensure the success of your box.

End of step 3:

  • You have determined the price of your subscription, by establishing a budget of expenses and fixed costs
  • You have defined the details of your logistics: inventory management, orders and delivery
  • You have set up an after-sales service for your customers’ complaints

Action: I propose some boxes in preview to have a return by testing the whole supply chain.

You are ready for step 4: communication about the launch of your box!

Step 4 – Communicate on the launch

Once your business model is established, there is only one thing left to do, launch. You have to prepare the ground, you are getting ready to launch your box, let it be known by all means to make your future subscribers want it.

Create your website

The most obvious way to communicate about your brand new box is to dedicate a website to the presentation of your offer. Just like the external aesthetics of your box, your website is an integral part of your company’s image. You must not neglect the design but also the fluidity of the order taking, the personalization of the subscription tunnel, the different pages of the shop or the presentation of the previous boxes.

Several options are available to you to make your website a success:

  • Calling on the services of a developer, you will be sure to get a website according to your expectations. The downside is that it is often a substantial budget and each modification of your site may be expensive afterwards especially since at the beginning of the adventure it is rare to know exactly what your needs are. You risk being confronted with a project management that drags in time, which can tend to discourage you.
  • Build your website by yourself: by using an assisted platform with an existing CMS or by learning the basics of web development. A cheaper option, but very time-consuming, with a sometimes disappointing rendering and lack of functionalities adapted to the subscription box activity.
  • Another choice (the best one of course, we’re advertising ourselves a little!), entrust the project to a subscription specialist like Ciklik, the best of an agency and a powerful SaaS platform. This is an advantage in terms of native functionalities dedicated to subscriptions, controlled costs, advanced customization that allows you to convert more and limit your churn. Payment management, recurring subscriptions and easy shipping. Everything you need in one tool to give you time to perfect your subscription box.

No matter which option you choose, having a website should give a professional dimension to your business. Do not botch the creation of your site, at the risk of being seen as an amateur by your customers and brands who will not trust you.

We know that customization and design are very important for box designers, and probably for you too. The design of your website reflects your company’s image, your brand and your personality.

A beautiful site is not enough, make sure you also set up a good experience for the visitor of your site, with pages that load quickly and a path towards the purchase of a subscription readable and consistent. Your site must also be responsive to satisfy the 80% of your visitors who will be on mobile. Finally, your site must be optimized from an SEO point of view to be well referenced by search engines.

Another recommended option if you don’t want to go through the whole creation of your site is to go through a crowdfunding platform like Ulule, for several things:

  • Validate the excitement of your project
  • Create a nice page to introduce it. In addition, it will also help you get to know this type of tool better, just before you take the plunge.

Create a page on social networks

In addition to the website, creating a page on social networks is a great springboard to launch your business. Think Facebook and Instagram in particular, which are the flagship networks for a box site.

Once you’ve created a business page, be sure to post regularly and in a variety of forms. Posts, stories and sponsored ads on networks, you need to vary the pleasures!

If you don’t have any particular inspiration, feel free to share the stages of launching your business. Appointments with carriers, different tests for the design of the boxes, surveys to know which product would please the most, make your community participate in the creation of your brand.

In addition, showing your business in an authentic light has the immediate effect of humanizing your business, and giving you a much appreciated approachability. Make your subscribers want to attend the launch of your box, and become your first customers.

Set up a form

Whether it is on your website or on your social networks, do not neglect the importance of forms in your communication. Your objective here is to make users want to attend the launch of your box.

Create a form on your social network pages or on your website, and ask users for their opinion. They will then leave their email address, and you can set up a regular newsletter to make them participate in the evolution of your project.

In addition, making a form available before the launch of your box allows you to know your audience, and to know if they are receptive to your offer.

Capitalize on marketing offers

Need an extra boost to advertise your box launch? Nothing like promotions and free offers to attract an audience.

You can for example set up a discount for the launch through an advertising campaign: -15% on the first 3 months, an extra product in the boxes of the first 10 subscribers, etc. Make your target audience want to test your box and feel privileged.

For the launch of your activity, and in general to convert new subscribers, many marketing techniques should be considered: advertising campaigns, sponsorship system, promotional offers, calls to influencers, etc.

To call upon influencers, there are platforms that put companies in contact with influencers in their field. These platforms avoid wasting time scouring social networks to find influencers who will accept to promote your box. With a personalized accompaniment according to your objectives and access to a large address book of influencers, influencer platforms can be useful to boost the visibility of your subscription box even before the launch.

End of step 4: 

  • You have started to create a brand image through internet publications
  • You have a page on the networks or a website for your next communications
  • You have created a state of expectation and desire around the launch of your box

Action: I’m learning about all the different marketing promotions I want to put in place.

Now that you’ve landed your first registrants, it’s time to move on.

Step 5 – Ship your first boxes

The critical stage arrives, the first shipments. This is when you will realize all the flaws that you may not have anticipated in your project. Follow the process of sending each box closely, so that you don’t miss the slightest mistake.

Have specific tools to manage your subscriptions

As you can see, the subscription box business has many specificities that cannot be found in a classic ecommerce business. Make sure you have the right tools to track and automate order taking, subscription management, recurring payments and reminders.

Your time is precious, and you need to organize it so that you can focus on the essential: the development of your subscription box project, the choice of your products and the realization of new partnerships.

Stay in touch with your subscribers

Your subscribers are the first ambassadors of your brand.

This is also where you need to encourage sharing and word-of-mouth. In the first 100 boxes, include a little personalized touch, a little note or a little extra sample.

Then write a small note that tells customers that if they liked the box, they can post a comment on the internet or talk about it around them. Don’t underestimate the impact of word-of-mouth: 70% of people trust a brand if it has been recommended by someone close to them.

Small tip

You can plan a particular use of your cardboard box, or even a challenge, so that your subscribers take a picture of themselves with it. They will publish the picture on their social networks, with the hashtags you will have indicated beforehand. It generates visibility naturally, and by republishing your subscribers will feel involved in your community.

Want to go even further? Set up a “blog” section on your website, and publish articles regularly. Having a content strategy is essential for your business, your visibility, your SEO, etc. Tips, unboxing, little advice, … adapt your content to the theme of your box, and humanize your community in one shot.

Collect customer reviews

Beyond word-of-mouth and pure marketing, customer reviews are the main driver of visits and revenue for companies that offer subscription-based boxes.

Whether it’s in the form of comments on your website, on your social networks or by email, put a procedure in place to collect your customers’ opinions. People who will be interested in your box in the future will be more likely to trust it if they have access to reviews from older customers. Good testimonials build a brand’s reputation.

You can for example slip a small flyer in the boxes with the names of your social network pages, or even create an emailing chain.

Never heard of emailing?

The concept is quite simple, a few days or weeks after the delivery of a box, you program the sending of an email to collect the opinion of your customers. A rating out of 5 and a space to leave a comment, which you can then publish on your website.

In addition to attracting more subscribers, customer feedback is also beneficial for you. The goal is to constantly improve your box. And who better to advise you than your customers themselves?

If you give them the means to leave comments and opinions, they will spontaneously help you improve your box. Different products, more colorful packaging, adding a personal touch, practical advice, directly from your target audience. It’s also the ideal way to collect data from your community about the experience and discovery of the products. Ideas that you can share with your brand partners, who are eager for feedback from qualified targets.

Keep in mind that the information you will collect on the products that make up your box is very valuable for the brands. It is in exchange of these opinions that you will be able to position yourself in front of brands, to obtain very advantageous prices and partnerships in which the brand will be involved. Don’t forget to read our file on this subject: Boxes, a marketing tool for brands.

End of step 5:

  • You have set up a procedure to collect the opinions and advice of your first customers
  • You use the feedback to improve your box, and the reviews to boost your reputation

Action: I list the means to be used with my community of subscribers to reinforce a close relationship and to remain attentive to their needs.

Step 6 – Develop your business

In the subscription box business, you will quickly understand that the priority is to optimize the retention of its subscribers.

Build customer loyalty

To close the loop of your business and make it profitable from the beginning, the sixth and last step is to keep your customers.

The most expensive part of running a business is canvassing customers. Email blasts, sponsored ads, partnerships, … All these techniques to attract new subscribers require investing time and money. Much more than just keeping the interest of a customer who already knows your boxes.

Simply because reaching a new customer implies doing all the steps again: getting them interested in your brand, making them want to, converting them. Whereas building loyalty with a customer who is already in your database is just about making them want to stay and continue their subscription.

You will quickly realize that letting subscribers go is very expensive. Especially if you assume that in the box, the CLV (Customer Lifetime Value) is more important. Indeed, you will have paid more to attract a customer, only to lose him.

To reduce your churn rate, look for specific tools. Marketing features designed for this subscription business will allow you to effectively limit the loss of your monthly revenues.

Taking the example of the Ciklik solution, the unsubscribe tunnel functionality allows you to act on the retention of subscribers and to make them change their mind by more than 30%, this has a huge impact on your long-term revenues. Notifications for expired cards is also an advanced feature of Ciklik that allows you to catch up with a large number of subscribers lost for payment errors.

Specifically, by activating this type of functionality you will be able to ask a few questions to the customer who wants to unsubscribe, which will also help you to improve the quality of your box and eliminate the factors that drive your subscribers to cancel. At the same time, you will be able to invite them to stay by offering them to pause their subscription or to access an exclusive discount for their next box.

Bring quality content to your subscribers

You can also offer specific content to your subscribers or special attention according to their profiles by personalizing your boxes.

It is essential to build a special relationship with your subscribers and to communicate with them regularly. Create appointments with your subscribers, during which you will share a specific content, an exclusive information. Be creative and attentive to their needs to make them want to extend their subscription.

A happy customer is a customer who stays, and who talks about you around him, pamper your subscribers!

Automate reminders

There are many reasons for unsubscribing. Your customer may have encountered problems when renewing their subscription, difficulties communicating about a change in their situation or preference, problems with the delivery of their boxes.

As soon as your business takes off, you will need to have powerful and specific tools to manage your business. The automation in the management of orders, payments, reminders and delivery notes should bring you all the serenity you need on a daily basis, and the flexibility to manage your after-sales service while dealing with a high volume of subscribers. Never lose sight of the particularity of this business and the fact that it requires adapted tools to accompany you in the development of your activity.

End of step 6:

You now have a well-oiled box business with regular and satisfied subscribers, congratulations! Keep up the momentum, and don’t forget to grow your business with your subscribers’ preferences.

Action: I focus on retaining my subscribers with marketing tools specific to the subscription box.

Practical FAQ

You have practical questions to create your box? Ciklik helps you to go further!

How to boost the visibility of my box?

This problem is common to all companies, regardless of the sector. How to have a better visibility on the Internet to attract more customers?

Contrary to popular belief, there are many techniques and they are not all complicated to implement. But they require a certain perseverance.

Focus on social networks

It is impossible to talk about visibility on the Internet without talking about social networks. A simple technique to set up, but sometimes complicated to maintain.

Publish regularly, choose hashtags carefully, adapt your publications to your buyers, humanize your brand, … When you have gathered a small community, you can think about partnerships with influencers or with other brands.

Influencers (often in exchange for samples, gifts or a fee) will be able to talk about your box on their networks, and a major part of their followers will visit your site to see what you offer.

Any advice if you want to work with influencers?

You don’t have to aim too high and contact mega-influencers who have over 1 million followers. Sometimes it’s better to contact nano-influencers, who have about 5,000 followers. Even if they have a smaller community, they often have more impact on their followers.

Sites dedicated to Boxes

In addition to bringing traffic and sales, being present on these sites can bring you an important gain in SEO (search engine optimization) and reassurance for your customers who are looking for information about you.

Promote your website

Thanks to the services of a professional or by your own means, you have created a website dedicated to your box subscription business. But have you fully exploited its potential?

Websites are among the best tools to boost the visibility of a business. Having a content strategy is very important for your business. It’s a great long term investment, as these are pages that will work for you automatically as long as you provide value to your readers. Consider adding a Blog section to your site.

By doing so, you can also set up guest blogging. Guest blogging works like a partnership. You contact another company, either a competitor or one whose site deals with the same theme as your boxes, and set up a partnership to exchange articles on your respective sites.

Email marketing

Emails are sometimes considered obsolete, but their impact should not be underestimated. To send a weekly newsletter, promotional offers, receive customer reviews, … Setting up an emailing campaign is very positive for your image, and boosts the confidence of your customers.

In addition, you can use emails to send referral offers. If one of your customers tells one of his friends about your box and his friend registers with his referral code, you can offer a discount to your customer and his friend. Perfect to attract more customers and make word of mouth work!

To help you in your visibility process, Ciklik has gathered 5 free tips to boost your notoriety!

Paid advertising

For fast and effective results, you can always rely on paid ads to attract more traffic to your site and social networks.

Google paid ads work simply, you buy a keyword (the one on which your box is best positioned), like “box cheese” or “box books”. Your website will then appear at the top of the Google search results, as soon as someone types “box cheeses” or “box books” in the search bar.

This is not necessarily the recommended method, because the box business appeals to emotion and spontaneity. In other words, few people type “cheese box” to receive cheese. It’s more of a spontaneous purchase, after seeing an ad that caught your attention.

Similarly, you can switch to paid advertising on social networks, especially on Instagram. Instagram’s algorithm will then place your posts in the news feed of people who are likely to like what you are selling. With a direct link to your website’s store.

This is by far the most effective method, especially if you can offer an aggressive discount to discover your box. At Ciklik, our advertising campaign tools allow you to create links to your website with discounts directly attached to the cart. This way, no copy/paste of a discount code, which avoids a lot of friction during the purchase impulse.

How do I manage my inventory?

At the beginning of your business, try to find a happy medium. Order enough products, but not too many so that you don’t end up with a dead stock.

If you can, try to choose a supplier who can send you the products in express. This way, you can order the products in advance and place a last minute order if needed, to supply all the boxes.

In case you have some boxes left, you can always consider proposing on your website a small Shop section where the products contained in the previous boxes would be sold individually.

Anticipate this situation during the elaboration of your business plan, and do not hesitate to compare the offers of the suppliers.

You can also choose to limit your stock, especially at the launch. By creating a sold out page once your stock is exhausted, it could have the effect of increasing the buzz around your project for the next box.

How to create your box?

Selecting an idea, analyzing the market, designing your box, choosing suppliers and carriers, creating a website, etc. Launching your box can take time, and requires some anticipation.

To help you set up your business, Ciklik has set up an entire management platform. Subscriptions, payments, website, marketing and e-reputation of your box business, Ciklik tools are designed to make your task easier.

Don’t waste time for the launch of your box, lighten the management of your business and focus on the personalization of your box thanks to Ciklik.

Prerequisites: do I have the right profile to run a subscription box business?

Are you hesitating to start a subscription box business? The right profile is something to work on!

  • Being passionate about a subject is a very strong motivator but it is not enough on its own
  • To have well analyzed the market and its target to succeed in the game, even if you knew nothing about it at the beginning
  • Love to learn
  • Have an entrepreneurial spirit, so as not to lose sight of the profitability of your project
  • Stay in touch with your customers
  • Demonstrate responsiveness
  • Have time and energy to devote to your project
  • Have resources and support

So, do you have what it takes to get started? Until you take action, you’ll never know, so give yourself the means to reach your goals!