How to Start a Subscription Box Business

People sign up for subscriptions because they think, “that’s cheap, I’ll get that.” The market has conditioned people to think this way. Why not take advantage of it?

Subscription boxes are an easy way to make a little bit of extra cash each month. Even if you get a few people to sign on, you’re going to make some money.

But what’s involved in building a subscription box business? How do you choose what to send people? Here’s a short guide on how to do that.

Just like most popular online business models, there will be competition. In the subscription box business, there’s a ton of competition. You might go to Google, type in your niche and get overwhelmed.

That’s natural. It’s like the writer going into Barnes and Noble and thinking, “how will my book ever be found among all these books?”

But just like selling a book, it’s all in how you do your work. You are unique and you can devise a unique subscription box idea.

How do you do this? Niche down your vertical.

What topic are you passionate about? Is it books? Is it running? Start with broad strokes.

Ok, you’ve chosen running. Great! Now pick a category of running. Trail running, Ultra distance running, road running, marathon running, track running, etc. There are so many!

Alright, Ultra distance trail running. Great! Now pick an aspect of that category. Are you going for nutrition, training guides, clothing, accessories, shoes, survival gear?

Once you’ve chosen your aspect, you’ve niched down. Congratulations!

You want your customers to keep subscribing for as long as possible. But you also need to make money.

You’re going to constantly struggle between these two elements. How do you keep customers engaged?

Dig up surveys. What are people in your niche buying? What do they need? What’s popular? What’s not? What can they afford?

You cannot shortcut in this step. Customers will notice and they’ll quickly hit that unsubscribe button.

If you aren’t already connected in your niche, you might want to try hiring a virtual assistant. They’re good at reaching out and sourcing products.

It will take time to make the right connections. But once you make the connections, you can source some quality products for cheap. If you’re low on capital at first, spin your box as a way for companies to advertise. If the customer loves the product and they didn’t know about it before, they’ll be more likely to buy it later.

Again, you’ve got to make money. If the box costs less than the products inside cost you, then you’re not going to make money.

You can do two things to mitigate this. Get your source to give you products for cheap or free. Up your price.

You can’t go much higher than your competitors, but you don’t have to be the cheapest on the block. You just have to have the best selection of goodies.

Lastly, be sure to set up your website and figure out how you’re going to bill your customers. You can visit this website to find out how to do that.