Feb
20
Trialability!
Posted by: Carina Ip | February 20, 2011 | Leave a Comment
Forget subscribing to magazines and reading about products to try, subscribe to Birchbox (USA) or Loose Button (Canada and USA)and get “deluxe” sized samples right to your door! This idea really sparked an interest in me because I am the type of shopper who is often lazy to go to the mall and ask to try products and brands out, this service delivers various products to me and are from reputable, luxury brands. They are geodemographically targetting people just like me, and the others who are not near a Sephora or a department store that can provide samples. Obviously this type of subscription also appeals to the market women who are interested in beauty products.
Subscribing itself is very flexible, you can choose to subscribe to 1 month, 2 months, or the whole year and it only costs around $10 USD for each month. From the videos I have watched of girls opening their box full of goodies, it seems that they are often very satisfied by 1 to 2 items out of the 4 to 5, and some samples are retail size! So the value perceived is that what is in the box is actually worth more than the $10 subscription fee
As for the companies who expose their items in the box, they are focusing on the relative advantage of trialability. It can be assumed that if a subscriber reacts positively to a product sample, they are likely to become more knowledgable of the benefits of using that specific brand. Basically what I am saying is, if I like the sample of Lip Balm from Burts Bee’s, I will go to my London Drugs store, or the internet and find out what other products they offer and be a potential buyer.
Here is a video, of what it would be like if Birchbox shipped to Canada.
