To spice up her cooking, Nancy Lorenzo signed up last summer for a blue apron for a weekly meal --
Provide a box of ingredients for her home.
She loved the food samples so much that she wrote a review online, but she stumbled into the increasingly eccentric world of subscription boxes.
Now, Lorenzo, who lives in Ohio, receives a dozen packages each month with samples of food, beauty products and handmade jewelry.
She spent almost $300 on the box for months.
Over the past few years, the popularity of these carefully curated gift bags has surged, and now even major retailers, including Target, think there may be opportunities to make money.
The biggest attraction for retailers is the personal data they collect from their customers --
From their preferences for food and fragrance to their income
At the same time, collect feedback on untested products. New York-based start-
On 2010, up Birchbox kicked off this trend by sending customized cosmetic samples to women.
Users can now choose from pet food, baby products, fishing tackle, video games, adult toys and even marijuana boxes --
Smoking accessories.
For luxury goods, a subscription costs only $10 or $100 per month.
Collective value of products
If you buy it at full price
Often higher than the monthly cost.
Voice and social usersmedia-
A savvy group of people, who have set up blogs and online forums to review the best boxes or exchange goodies that suit their tastes.
For many, the real attraction is not the convenience of door-to-door delivery, but the element of surprise.
Like Christmas.
You never know what you get, "said Jersey Belosky, 27, a product manager in Hoboken, New Jersey who subscribed to about 15 boxes.
There is little data on this emerging industry, but some estimates say there are between 400 and 600 box services in the United States, especially overseas. Many are start-
Industry experts say ups, which are not yet profitable, although they get products from companies that want to introduce to new customers with discounts or free of charge.
Some have failed. In 2012, Wal-
Wal-Mart Technology Center @ WalmartLabs pilot subscription snacks-
Box service called Goodies
The box is $7 a month for healthy snacks. Wal-
Mart stopped Goodies in October, but said it would apply this lesson to other subscription services.
There are disadvantages to the subscription box.
The quality of the new untested brand is not always top notchnotch.
Not everything is for shoppers.
Consumers may lose interest, but they are too anxious to take additional steps to disqualify.
When people realize they don't want [a service]
They need time to cancel it, "said Larry Chiagouris, a marketing professor at the Rubin Business School at Pace University.
"The real money is in inertia.
"Liz Cardman, 29, who runs the review blog of My Subscription Addiction, describes her love for monthly delivery as a gamble that doesn't always pay off.
"If I ended up liking the whole box, then I won the first prize," she said . ".
Lorenzo's husband.
People who subscribe to the men's lifestyle box-
Despite his baldness, she said, he kept receiving hair products.
Lorenzo, 55, said she complained repeatedly before the company was in trouble.
For retailers, the monthly box is like offering a plate of appetizers to shoppers: taste what you like and come back and buy more --
If you don't like something, send it to your friends.
But for them, there is something other than money.
Users share a lot of personal data to customize their boxes.
They also provide valuable feedback to retailers before the product is put on the shelves.
For retailers worried about the growing popularity of online shopping, boxes can be a way to reach consumers who have disappeared from shopping channels.
"What else would you not buy if you stopped going to the store to buy diapers?
Amy Koo, a senior analyst at consulting group Kantar Retail, said.
"The subscription box gives retailers the opportunity to get [people]
Categories that are not interested in them initially.
"Subscription models are as old as newspapers, but the rise of services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime has sparked a renaissance," analysts said. Retailers -
Especially brickand-mortar stores -
Want to copy and retain customers successfully. (Amazon.
Jeff Bezos, ceo of The Washington Post. )
The budget for Americans is still tight, they are looking for deals, and they are used to the convenience of online shopping.
The subscription box lets "experts" do research for time-
Pressure shoppers and send their suggestions to people's doorways, Koo said.
"If you walk into any big company
Box shops, aisles and aisles with products, "said Jeremy Gwen of United.
The founder of the mysterious fishing tackle box, fishing for a month-
Box service is available.
"For a man who is not dead --
Hard anglers, this could be an overwhelming experience. " Some big-
To test the success of the new business model, box retailers set up Silicon Valley companies.
Last year, Target launched a $5 beauty box on Facebook to learn how customers react on social media.
Last month, the company re-launched a limited supply of beauty boxes on its website.
Experts say the popularity of the subscription box is likely to continue to grow at the moment.
Young consumers make up a large part of users, analysts say, probably because they are willing to try new products.
Most of the boxes still target women, even though the men's boxes --
Like loot crates, nerd blocks and Birchbox Man-
It is an expanding field.
The next challenge for these companies is how to turn loyal customers into profits. -