21 October 2020
From shopping to subscribing
Today, subscriptions are among the hottest features within e-commerce and a service which an increasing number of consumers are demanding. It is therefore not surprising that the development has picked up speed and the bar for the consumers’ expectations has been raised. But what does it take to make the consumers click subscribe and choose your brand again and again?
Easy everyday life on subscription, please!
At the world’s largest retail conference ‘NRF Retail’s BIG Show’ in New York there was no doubt. One of the very essential ingredients in subscriptions today is ‘convenience’ which covers the consumers’ increasing demand for you e-commerce companies to make it as easy, smart and flexible as possible to interact with your brand. If you want to succeed on the subscription stage, it is, in other words, a question of creating an effortless shopping experience as well as a solution which makes everyday life easier for the customers who in return repay with increased brand loyalty.
In Denmark, the industry has not missed the tendency. According to FDIH’s ’E-handelsanalyse 2019’ the Danes spent DKK 30 billion in 2019 on subscriptions which were subscribed online and they thereby accounted for 21% of the total online trading in Denmark. In addition to the more classic subscriptions for streaming, training and magazines, the analysis presents a clear picture: The Danes are increasingly subscribing to products and services which in various ways make their everyday lives easier – everything from meal boxes and convenience goods to cosmetics. As a result, e-commerce companies may benefit from keeping the finger on the pulse when it comes to the latest trends within subscriptions.
Click subscribe for your next fashion fix
With its advantage club, Trunk Club, the fashion retailer Nordstrom is one of the brands in New York which has very much succeeded in breaking the subscription code and making the shopping experience even more easy, convenient and personal for its customers. As a Trunk Club member, Nordstrom’s customers can have the shopping mall experience delivered directly to their living rooms in the form of a trunk filled with head-to-toe outfits which are hand-picked by their very own, personal Trunk Club stylist.
Having a sharp eye on convenience, Nordstrom has integrated various smart features in the membership. Via its online profile, members can fill in a style quiz with requests for fit, look and budget, chat directly with their stylist or connect to Pinterest for easy sharing of their style icons, styles from their current wardrobe and ideas to new outfits with their personal stylist. When the stylist has prepared the trunk, the customer can via an online sneak peek remove and add styles before everything is sent to the customer who can carefully consider and try on the clothes, pay for the perfect match and return the rest free of charge. In this way, Nordstrom is creating an effortless and unique experience which goes beyond the product and it is exactly this added value which makes the customers want to click subscribe and choose Nordstrom again and again.
Beauty on subscription
In Denmark, the Danish beauty giant Matas is one of the front-runners when it comes to making everyday life easier for the consumers by means of subscriptions. Matas makes it possible for the customers on matas.dk as well as physically in the shop to subscribe to their daily beauty routines and have selected products delivered carriage free and with a fixed discount before they run out.
When it is time to fill up the beauty shelf, the customers on matas.dk can already from the product list see which items are available on subscription and they can also read more about the subscription, see the special discount and not least add the subscription to the shopping cart directly from the individual product page. Also in-store the solution has been made easily available for the customers, and it is easy for Matas’s beauty consultants to add a subscription to the individual customer’s purchase which the customer can subsequently activate by a few clicks via a confirmation email.
“We look forward to making your everyday life easier”
With a sharp eye to the customers’ various routines and needs, Matas has also made it possible for its customers to define how often they wish to have the individual product delivered. Matas recommends a time interval which is typical for each product but which the customers can easily adjust to match their needs exactly before adding the subscription to the cart. Furthermore, the subscription is automatically attached to the individual customer’s Club Matas profile from where the customer can easily change or add to the subscription and for example postpone the delivery, put the subscription on hold or add more products to the next delivery and have everything delivered together and carriage free.
In other words, which this subscription, Matas is giving its customers the possibility of placing their routine shopping on autopilot so they never again have to worry about whether they are running out of their favourite cream, vitamins or body lotion.
Say hello to commitment-free furniture
Convenience, easiness and flexibility – it is a question of offering the customers precisely what they want, in the way they want it and when they want it. It is therefore only the imagination that sets boundaries to which products and services the consumers are ready to click subscribe to.
One of the brands which has successfully gone all in on creative, out-of-the-box subscriptions is the interior retailer Crate & Barrel. In a partnership with the online furniture rental service, Fernish, they make it possible for their customers to rent everything from a new couch or dining table lamp to an entire living room. The customers decide for how long they want to rent the furniture and it is also possible for them to swap to new ones or buy the furniture at a reduced price. With this subscription, Crate & Barrel also gives their customers a unique ‘try-before-you-buy’ option and freedom to redesign their own home as often as they like.
In this way, Crate & Barrel is tapping directly into the consumers’ need for convenience and creates an effortless shopping experience which helps increase the loyalty to the brand in their primary customer segment – the house owners. But which certainly also creates brand awareness from their potential future customers – the tenants – who want to have high quality interior but do not want to commit to something which may not fit into their next flat or future home.
Want to learn more about how you can create the unique subscription which makes everyday life easier for your customers and increases the loyalty to your brand?
Give our Head of Customer Relations, Casper Bo Jørgensen, a call at: +45 23 30 79 56 or write to: cbj@hesehus.dk
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