Condé Nast expands its subscription box model to GQ

By

Emily Jensen

Published
May 20, 2017

Building on the existing subscription box model they’ve created with publications like Teen Vogue and Brides, Condé Nast will be launching subscription boxes for GQ. Items in the boxes are chosen by the publications’ editors in conjunction with Condé Nast’s beauty publication Allure. 

 
According to Jill Friedson, Condé Nast’s head of brand marketing and strategic partnerships, the subscription boxes are a new way for the company to increase and diversify its revenue. Subscribers can sign up for a monthly gift box which contains a mixture of sample or full-sized beauty and cosmetics products designed to appeal to the publication’s audience.
 
Condé Nast first experimented with subscription boxes when Allure teamed up with Beauty Bar in 2015 to create a box for its readers. Since then, the company has produced the boxes in-house, allowing the company to make better use of its data on its readers.

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The subscription beauty box model was popularized by the likes of Birchbox and Ipsy, with many companies in the beauty sector, such as Sephora, since capitalizing on the boxes’ popularity with their own version. Subscribers are able to pay a small fee to try a wide array of products whose total value is much higher than the cost of the box.
 
Many boxes on the market sell for as little as $10 each, while Condé Nast’s boxes tend towards the more expensive side. A Teen Vogue back-to-school themed box sold for $39, containing $145 worth of products. Condé Nast first gave a try at a GQ box in 2015, which sold for $100 and quickly proved unsuccessful.
 
Condé Nast earns revenue not just through the costs of subscription, but also through affiliate links to products, which are included in email newsletters. Friedson also claims that the boxes have lead to increased print subscriptions.  
 
“Our consumer marketing partners have been really impressed,” she said. “They hadn’t seen growth like that. It’s a new lever for us.”