Birchbox opens more personalized beauty subscription service

By

Edina Sultanik

Published
Mar 10, 2017

Birchbox, the beauty and grooming retailer and subscription service, is testing a new subscription option that delivers a more customized selection of products to each beauty subscriber. Still in test mode, the new subscription box, called Birchbox Select Beta, offers customers more choices in what they receive in their monthly Birchbox packages, and has several new features, as well, giving the customer more control over what they receive or don’t receive each month.  The new service costs $15 a month compared to $10 for the original box service.

 Like the original, Birchbox Select monthly boxes include five samples, but now customers have the ability to select products based on a specific need (eg: oily skin) or trend, with a new “Fix It Box” option.  There’s also “Pick one skip one”, which allows customers to request a category of sample to receive or exclude from an upcoming box. (eg: “Send me face cream, skip the mascara”) The products themselves will remain a surprise. Another new feature is the option to trade in a monthly box altogether, in exchange for Birchbox Points to spend in the Birchbox shop.  With Birchbox Select, the company is testing the notion that by introducing people to new products via more targeted sample selections, sales of full price products online will eventually increase.

Founded in 2010, Birchbox carries over 800 brands, and has over a million subscribers, and 4 million total customers. Much of the company’s growth is coming from sales of full size products from the Birchbox online shop, amounting to 35% of the company’s revenue.  Mobile drives 70% of traffic. The company has a brick and mortar store in Manhattan and recently announced plans to open a second location in Paris.