The holidays are fast approaching, and in addition to the food, traveling and festivities, there are quite a lot of gifts changing hands. People aren’t just buying gifts for others, though. It’s been shown that many are actually spending more on themselves during this time of year! Here are 5 reasons why launching your new subscription business BEFORE the holidays is a great idea.
Reason 1. Subscription Commerce is Taking Off
The subscription commerce space is hot right now and consumers are more interested than ever in the concept of a subscription box. Unless you’ve been living under a rock in recent months, then it’s likely you’ve heard about many of these subscription business success stories. Dollar Shave Club, who rose to prominence thanks to their catchy youtube video, has grown immensely in the last 2 years and are now valued at $615 million. Interestingly enough, the idea for this monthly razor delivery club actually came from a holiday party conversation!
Another subscription business doing particularly well is Ipsy, a subscription box delivering makeup to subscribers monthly. The company has grown so immensely (over 1.3 million subscribers now), and recently raised $100 million, valuing them at around $800 million.
Other companies like Birchbox and Jessica Alba’s Honest Co also deserve to be mentioned. They are both valued at over $1 Billion.
The reality is consumers absolutely love the concept of a monthly delivery at their door. The idea of discovering new products you love at an affordable price each month is something that’s been increasingly resonating with consumers. Many describe it as “it’s like your birthday every month!”
Reason 2. It’s Gift Giving Season
It’s no surprise: there is a surge in demand for gifts during the holiday season. In the US alone, people spent about $600 Billion on retail during winter holidays in 2013/14, according to the NRF.
And guess what? Subscription boxes make great gifts. In the last 2 years, there’s been a significant jump in subscription box gifting. These gifts simple, unique and highly curated, which shows a lot of thought went into the gift. If a friend loves hiking, why not get him a 3 month subscription to Hikewize? If they are really into working out or constantly looking for healthy snacks, why not give them a subscription to SnackSack?
The point is subscriptions as gifts are in, and it’s the perfect time to dip your feet in.
Reason 3. Tis the Season for Testing
Hands down, this is the best time to get ideas for what to sell. Michael Dubin, founder of Dollar Shave Club, said he stumbled on the idea during a holiday party conversation. The fact that people are talking about gifts at this time more than any other time in the year means you’ll get to hear a lot of different products people want or will be giving someone. You’ll get to see a lot of wishlists, people will be posting gift ideas on social media, blogs will be sharing lists of the most in-demand items etc.
This essentially means your job of figuring out what to sell is half done. Simply pull all these resources together and use as a starting point to determine what items people really want, then go for it.
Reason 4. Press is Hungry for New Products
Reporters and Bloggers are actively looking to write about gifts and gift giving during this period. The right article or review in the right publication could significantly grow your business, and this is one of the very few times you might get writers actually reaching out to you wanting to do a story.
Reason 5. Search Trends Help You Grow Faster
The holiday season offers another advantage: you’ll be able to build a huge list. Search for gift related ideas spikes during the holiday period:
More people, than at any time this year, will be searching for things to buy, and that means you’ll most likely get a lot more visitors to your website than usual. Setting up e-mail capture, and the right e-mail drip campaigns could help you build and convert a huge list of potential customers. You probably won’t have as big an opportunity to do this at any point during the year.
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