A Guide To eCommerce Subscriptions & Bundles

Tuesday, December 11, 2018Lindsay Hampson

The journey from milk to Kanye

To make life easier and to keep up with trends, consumers have always had a soft spot for the concept of subscriptions and bundles. Take milk, cosmetics and music. The first home glass milk bottle deliveries occurred in 1785 in rural Vermont. Mary Kay started selling in-home to consumers, season after season, going back to the 1960s. And, Columbia House had a significant market presence in the 1980’s and 1990’s with monthly mail-order music.

While the concept of the subscription boxes and personalized kits is not new, its recent popularity is outrageous (and down right interesting). There were plenty of kids in college in the 1990s not getting CDs sent to their dorms every month, but you’d be hard pressed to find a millennial who hasn’t signed up for an online subscription box this year.

The research behind subscription box trends speaks for itself. According to Forbes, “The subscription eCommerce market has grown by more than 100% percent a year over the past five years, with the largest retailers generating more than $2.6B in sales in 2016, up from $57.0M in 2011.” 

eCommece subscriptions keep customers enaged with your brand.

More fashion brands are upselling with the use of bundles. “Buy this entire outfit now” tactics appeal to the consumer’s desire to keep up with trends and make life easier. Fashionista wrote a blog earlier this year about bundles where they proclaimed, “From Yeezy to Outdoor Voices, direct-to-consumer labels are bringing the Happy Meal concept to fashion.” (This is likely my favourite blog subtitle, ever). Bundles limit inventory risk, promote economies of scale, and even pass some savings onto the customer.

Read the full miniguide here.

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