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Ask HN: Has anyone here started a Subscription Box business?
* What are the challenges involved?
* Is it a profitable business model?
- shakna 10y agoI trialled one, but decided it wasn't profitable for me considering my audience in this geography. Challenges: * Does your niche have a big enough audience? Myself, the niche was hobby electronics. Lights, motors, switches and microcontrollers. * Can you market effectively to your audience? In my case, no. Facebook, Reddit, and radio didn't reach enough people. Word of mouth was best, but then only in one or two cities. * Can delivery be both cheap enough and reliable enough? The most prestigious package delivery company regularly sent to the wrong end of the country. * Make the box interesting each month, without giving away everything in it. People like the surprise. But you don't tend to be able to cost effectively put much in a box. I had three projects each time, I kept at least one secret. * Suppliers need to be very reliable. I got more orders than expected, but within what the supplier said they could deliver. They couldn't by the deadline. I got credit, but it'll cost you customers. * Are you competing for an audience? Subscribers tend to be intensely loyal. Not a space I would choose to compete in. * Engage with customers. You need a place to talk to customers, probably a mailing list as well, and most people expect some sort of cute newsletter in the box. That can be a lot of work. * Where will you deliver? It ended up cheaper to ship to China and the US, than to ship to my own backyard. More reliable too. Do your research. * Can you afford it? The time to curate the box, communicate and market with the audience, keep suppliers and delivery in line is immense.