The beauty industry is a monster with no indications of slowing down in its expansion. What is the value of the beauty industry? Total global sales was $483 billion in 2020. With an annual growth rate of 4.75%, total revenue is expected to top $716 billion by 2025.

Though big-name retail stores and internet portals remain the primary means of distribution for beauty products, subscription services such as Ipsy Glam, Beauty FIX and Glossy Box are disrupting the industry, allowing startups to claim a share of the industry.

While beauty subscription boxes have been an easy way to get new products delivered to the doorstep of your customers occasionally, 2021 has presented a new crop of ultra-customizable and creative interpretations of what a beauty box can offer. From skincare to makeup, there’s an option for all your beauty products to be placed on auto-sell via subscription, and here are six reasons you should do so.

Why You Should Sell Your Beauty Product as a Subscription Box

A subscription box can assist you in converting one-time buyers into committed subscribers who purchase from you on a monthly basis. And here is why you should consider selling your beauty products via subscription:

1. Better inventory management

If you've ever sold things before, you should know how hard inventory management can be. If it's not correctly planned or managed, it can harm your organization in the short and long term. By selling your beauty product through a subscription box, you are aware of the orders from subscribers, and you can be immensely relieved of all the hitches and bumps that may arise. Hence you can easily organize your inventory and plan for orders upfront.

2. Consistent and recurring revenue

Consistent cash flow is one of the most obvious, but an essential advantage of having a subscription-based business. Every business, whether online or offline, wants a steady flow of income, and they're always looking for new methods to get it.

Selling your beauty box via subscription is the answer for building a loyal customer base and generating steady and recurring revenue for your beauty box business. This method improves the overall stability of your organization and allows you to better manage your cash flow because you are aware of the set revenue upfront.

3. Improved CRM and long term customer relationship

People generally prefer to continue using what they are accustomed to rather than trying something new. And you cannot always count on loyal customers to keep returning to you like subscribed customers. The sense of commitment to your product and the need for continuous communication that subscription offers give room for better customer relationship management and ultimately, long term customers.

4. Improved customer retention

Every company strives to develop a loyal consumer base. Do you have any idea why? Because keeping an existing customer is far easier and less expensive than finding a new one. Selling your beauty product via subscription helps you do just that seamlessly. Not only that but also simplifies customer relationship management by allowing you to see the current status of all subscribers.

5. Room for bundling and upsell

One of the benefits of a subscription box is that it caters to a specific audience. Do you have any beauty products that cater to specific demographics? Bundling it with a subscription option is a great way of segmenting your market into more manageable chunks and reaching a passionate group of people that prefer to receive products regularly. Many subscription merchants using Chargezen use this approach to upsell and roll out products that are not in high demand.

6. Plan for growth

Our businesses, like ourselves, are the outcome of the decisions we make. Whether it's deciding on an annual budget, recruiting people, deciding on spending, expanding your beauty product line, or hundreds of other decisions, every organization must make them on a regular basis.

We don't always make the best decisions because we don't have all of the information we need. With a subscription-based approach, we have many forms of data such as cash flow, types of customers, product popularity, and so on. Such information can aid you in better forecasting and making better plans for your beauty product.

How to start a Beauty Subscription Box Business in 3 simple steps

Step 1: Choose a product

If you’re currently running a personal beauty brand, then you need to worry less about deciding what to sell via subscription box. On the other hand, those who don't own a beauty brand must come up with a killer box idea as their first step toward creating a beauty subscription box. If you're in the second category, this doesn't make things harder for you, it rather eliminates the hard work of production. 

You only need to select great products for your beauty box and give your customers an additional value that your competitors don't. You should consider answering the following questions:

• Are you making a one-of-a-kind beauty product that only you can provide?

• Are you introducing new products to your subscribers?

• Are you providing a solution to cosmetic problems?

The Allure beauty box is a successful example. At $23 a month, this affordable price point makes the Allure Beauty Box an easy way to try the trending ingredients and current cosmetics you’ll see featured in the pages of Allure. A recent delivery had a jaw-dropping value of around $265 and included products like 111 Skin Vitamin C Brightening Booster, Eyeko Double Act Shadow Stick in ‘Dusk/Dawn’ + Eyeko Sharpener, B.Glen Clay Wash Mild Facial Cleanser, Pixi LipGlow in Ruby, AHAVA Mineral Hand Cream and Mudmasky Eye Mask.

Perfect for the critical buyer, the Allure Beauty Box is especially apt for those who wish to sample the latest beauty releases before committing to the full-size purchase.

STEP 2: SETTLE PRODUCT AND SHIPPING LOGISTICS

Sending out monthly parcels for subscriptions that supply stuff like clothes may not require much more thought than calculating shipping charges. Overlooking issues like shipment temperature, packaging material, or travel pressure may rapidly turn into a logistical nightmare for businesses seeking to start a cosmetics or food subscription service. This is why you must put a lot of consideration into logistics for your beauty subscription box.

When beginning a beauty subscription box, the greatest thing sellers can do is communicate openly with vendors and shipping partners. Ensure that everyone on your team is on the same page, from your employees to product suppliers to your fulfillment center. On behalf of your customers, establish product standards and expectations.

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STEP 3: PICK AN E-COMMERCE PARTNER AND A SUBSCRIPTION SOLUTION

It's time to choose the tools you'll need to begin and maintain your beauty box subscription once you've selected your box products and evaluated your shipping logistics. The sheer number of programs that new sellers must learn, use, and connect to keep their subscription business going effectively is what most new sellers are surprised by when they first start.

Rather than incurring a lot of costs to buy multiple apps or hire programmers, it’s highly recommended that you build your store on a platform like Shopify that won’t require hiring a programmer and a subscription management solution like Chargezen to manage your recurring billing. 

FINAL THOUGHTS

Building beauty subscription boxes can be interesting, but it's critical to select the right product, understand fulfillment and its logistics, and select the correct technologies to grow your subscription. Landing on an easy-to-use and affordable subscription management platform is one thing that will help you come even closer to getting started. Many successful subscription brands are using Chargezen to seamlessly power recurring payments, receive deep-dive business analytics, reduce churn and management orders. Reach out to Chargezen's support team to book a demo for free and get started with your beauty subscription box. Several brands are currently running successful monthly subscription boxes with Chargezen, and you can too.