Inside Outdoor Magazine

Inside Outdoor | SPRING 2018 36 BACK OFFICE The subscription box market’s mixed outlook Slow Delivery Outside of the larger share of disposable income being spent at restaurants and on take-out, we have seen little evidence suggesting radical change in what American con- sumers buy. We are, however, going through a transforma- tion as to how consumers buy. Chalk it up to the digital trans- formation, and in many ways, the rise of the subscription box market and other subscription e-commerce services exem- plify the shift. Subscription e-commerce, led by start-ups such as Dollar Shave Club, Blue Apron meal kits and Stitch Fix personal styling, hits many of the marks of the digital economy – cus- tomers shop from the couch, the personalization factor is high, it’s super-convenient and there’s possible cost savings – and when the concept hit the market in the early 2010s, it brought about very high expectations for growth and disruption and generated great interest among venture capital- ists. Five or so years later, the subscription box market has yet to deliver on much of that hype, with some analysts even arguing the market is little more than a venture capital-fueled bubble. At best, results so far have been mixed, suggest re- cent findings from McKinsey & Company, so the question be- comes, are the problems more a matter of immature business Top 10 sites with highest number of current subscribers by gender Source: McKinsey & Company Amazon Subscribe & Save Women Overall Men Dollar Shave Club Ipsy Birchbox Sephora Play! JustFab Blue Apron BarkBox StitchFix AdoreMe/ShoeDazzle Amazon Subscribe & Save Dollar Shave Club Ipsy Blue Apron Birchbox Sephora Play Harry’s BarkBox JustFab HelloFresh Dollar Shave Club Amazon Subscribe & Save Harry’s Blue Apron BarkBox Loot Crate Birchbox HelloFresh Home Chef Instacart By Martin Vilaboy